Union Minister of State for Environment, Forests and Climate Change (MoEFCC), Government of India, Kirti Varadhan Singh, had an interaction meeting with the officers of the Department of Environment, Forests and Climate Change, Government of Nagaland at Forest Guest House, Kohima, Nagaland on February 9.

Officers of the Department led by Y Kikheto Sema, IAS, Principal Secretary to the Government of Nagaland appraised the Minister about various initiatives of the Department for conservation of forests, wildlife and other natural resources in the State. Highlighting the need for increased afforestation programs in both rural and urban areas to overcome forest degradation, Kikheto requested for increase allocations to the State under Nagar Van. He also requested the Centre Government to consider under Green India Mission (GIM) schemes of the MoEFCC, GoI.

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Appraising the Minister regarding initiatives of the Government of Nagaland to promote Agarwood plantation in the State, the Principal Secretary conveyed that the draft Agarwood Policy for Nagaland is under submission to the Cabinet for consideration. Sema also requested for allocation of funds from the Compensatory Afforestation Fund Management and Planning Authority (CAMPA) under centre fund.

During the interaction, the Minister encouraged the Department officials to adopt renewed approach for conservation of natural resources with technological interventions. Nudging the officials for taking up comprehensive conservation measures to addressing issues like forest fires, landslides and water scarcity through soil and moisture conservation activities, he called upon the Department to sustainably manage abundant natural resources in State for economic viability and ecological sustainability.

Advising for adoption of improved plantation techniques namely, improved clones of Teak and inoculation of Agarwood, the Union Minister of States called upon the officials of the State to interact with research institutions like IFGTB, Coimbatore and RFRI, Jorhat to bring in relevant technological advancement to the tree cultivation in Nagaland.

Highlighting the need for adopting improved forest management techniques for better economic returns from the teak and agarwood plantations, he called for promotion of production forestry to boost the economy of farmers in the State.