Meghalaya was presented with the Green Ribbon Champions award for outstanding environmental commitment at the fifth edition of the SDG (Sustainable Development Goals) Summit in New Delhi.
The two-day summit began yesterday and Meghalaya was represented by cabinet minister Ampareen Lyngdoh, who received the award on the state’s behalf from Union Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas Hardeep Singh Puri.
With the central theme of ‘Strengthening Economies – Collaboration! Financing! Resilience!’, the SDG summit saw changemakers and policymakers associated with climate change and the environment.
Lyngdoh highlighted significant initiatives designed to address the pressing challenges of climate change and promote sustainable development for a resilient future by the Meghalaya government, a press release said today.
In her keynote address, the minister spoke on the theme ‘Responsible Endeavours for a Resilient Future.’
“Meghalaya is blessed with 76 percent forest cover and more than 50,000 springs,” she told the gathering. “However, the perils of climate change threaten the delicate equilibrium of our ecosystems and could have serious impact on farming patterns and on the lives of agrarian communities. To mitigate these risks, the government has initiated several afforestation programs and the country’s largest payment for ecosystem services programme, called Green Meghalaya.”
Under this programme, communities are paid an annual grant of up to Rs 15,000 per hectare for conserving forest cover and 1,500 communities have so far been supported for preserving almost 27,000 hectares of natural forest cover, she added.
Lyngdoh also informed that in January the Meghalaya State Organic and Natural Farming policy was introduced, aiming to promote organic farming as a sustainable income source for farmers. Supportive infrastructure such as cold storage, warehouses and processing units has also been developed, integrated with the Chief Minister’s Solar Mission to reduce the carbon footprint.
