‘Forests for prosperity’, a world bank funded project with total outlay of Rs.665 Crore will start in Himachal Pradesh shortly.

 

The collaborative project of the World Bank and the state government is being implemented in the hill state in the ratio of 80:20.

 

A nine-member team of the World Bank is on visit to Shimla to check the different modalities of the project.

 

The World Bank team is headed by Marcello Acerbi, senior environmentalist and they are meeting, in addition to the Officers of forest department, with the senior officers and head of the departments concerned like Tourism, Industry, Pollution Control Board and Energy.

 

‘The project will run in the different parts of the state for a period of five years, in which spending will done for the prosperity of the forests,” said forest minister, Thakur Singh Bharmouri.

 

He said the project headquarter would be in Una. The process of initiation of the project has been started and Indian Forest Service Officer and Samir Rastogi has been appointed as Chief Project Director.

 

The project aims at interventions for raising the income of the people residing in the villages, with emphasis on the production and collection of Non-Timber forest produce, options of traditional sources of income like eco-tourism. The ‘forests for prosperity’ will ultimately reduce soil erosion in general and the silt levels in the rivers. The long term effects are include improvement in water quality for drinking and irrigation and an increase in the forest cover.

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