The week-long celebration to commemorate World Environment Day and Meghalaya Environment Week came to a close here today.
Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma was the chief guest at the function, which was also attended by Forests and Environment Minister James PK Sangma, senior officials, students and village committees from across the state.
During his address, the CM said that the most important objective of having a week-long programme was not only to create awareness on environmental issues and highlight the steps that are being initiated to better manage Meghalaya’s natural resources but also to acknowledge and encourage proactive behaviour among individuals towards the preservation and protection of the environment.
“While we look at what the government, organisations and officials are doing, we should also look at what we can do as a citizen. And that is, I think, the most important point of having this one week programme,” Conrad said.
Talking at length on the government’s approach to natural resource management (NRM), he said that the state’s departments and agencies need to be in sync and work together to achieve the intended results.
“When we started in 2018, we realised that we needed to have a policy for water because without that the entire process would be not connected. So, we started with the Water Policy. Then we realised that the state budget and funds were not enough for us to be able to fund the different projects that we wanted. So, we started moving aggressively on different externally-aided projects,” he said, adding that the state has secured nearly Rs 4,700 crore in externally-aided projects for NRM.
The CM also spoke about the Payment for Ecosystem Services (PES) scheme that aims to preserve catchment areas and forest cover from degradation. The project, first implemented as a pilot in the Ganol catchment areas of West Garo Hills, aims to bring on board rural communities in preserving forests in return for monetary incentives and alternate livelihood activities.
“I would like to inform you that this is the largest form of this programme in the whole country today. No other state has taken up the programme on such a large scale as Meghalaya has done. This is going to show the way for many other states and regions and this, I feel very strongly, is the best way to ensure that we’re able to protect our environment,” Conrad said.
ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES ‘REDUNDANT’
During his address, James spoke on the important role that technology plays in efforts towards the protection and preservation of the environment.
He stated that the Forests and Environment Department is implementing nature-based solutions to combat environmental problems faced due to human activity.
During his address he also said that his department is working on collaborating with the Education Department on bringing climate change as part of the school curriculum.
“In Meghalaya we have something called environmental sciences, but that is redundant. Today climate change is far more overarching than environmental science. It is not just far more overarching, it is also extremely relevant and important for our children to know,” he said.
