Workshop analyses Sikkim’s Forest Carbon Account to inform sustainable policy options

GANGTOK, 02 May: A “Stakeholders Consultation Workshop on analyzing Forest Carbon Accounts for sustainable policy options with special reference to livelihood issues”, organized by the Indian Institute of Forest Management, Bhopal-TIFAC-IIASA and Department of Forest, Environment and Wildlife Management Department was held at the Forest Department conference hall, today.
Dr Madhu Verma [professor, Environmental Development Economics-Co-PI, IIFM] informed the gathering that forestry has been undergoing considerable change on account of climate variability and climate change in India. “Many a times both cause and effect can be located within the sector but the response to it has been wanting on account of lack of understanding of the sector in holistic manner in relation to its services, processes and stakeholders which are so much interdependent,” she shared.

There is an urgent need to build capacitates in forest resource modeling to understand the sector in totality and impact of changes in the forestry sector, specially relating to its capacity to absorb shocks of climate through its infrastructural function and resilience mechanism, she added.
“The project aims to establish correlation between the forest carbon stock and its impact on livelihoods of forest dependent communities and the project area comprises of two Himalayan states of Himachal Pradesh and Sikkim and a non Himalayan state in central India - Madhya Pradesh,” she informed.
The project model will demonstrate variabilities in the forest carbon stock by taking into account the externalities and their resultant impact on livelihoods of forest dependent communities, she added.
The objectives of the project include analysing existing forestry, land use and other policies which have a bearing on livelihood in the forestry sector, developing site specific Indian Forest Carbon Model with special reference to Himachal Pradesh, Sikkim and Madhya Pradesh, to analyse the feasibility of suitable financial mechanism in the forestry scenario of India, and through the findings of site specific Indian Forest Carbon Model suggest interventions for sustainable management of Forests of India.
ML Arrawatti [Secretary, Science & Technology and Climate Change Department] and ST Lachungpa [PCCF-cum-Secretary, Forest, Environment and Wildlife Management Department] also addressed the gathering, while Pradeep Kumar [Conservator of Forest] gave a power-point presentation.