India and World Bank Sign a loan Agreement of $48 Million for Meghalaya

The Finance Ministry of India has signed a loan agreement of $48 million for Meghalaya Community – Led Landscapes Management Project (MCLLMP).

The Loan Agreement was signed by Mr. Sameer Kumar Khare, Joint Secretary (MI) in the Department of Economic Affairs on behalf of the Government of India and Mr. Hisham A Abdo Kahin, Acting Country Director, World Bank (India) on behalf of the World Bank.

Aim

The project aims to strengthen community-led landscapes management in selected landscapes in Meghalaya by 2023. The Government of India is committed to the economic development of the North East and supports the measures adopted by the states to reduce risks posed because of climate change.

The Project will directly benefit at least one lakh rural people, half of whom are women.
In addition, some 30,000 youth will gain from training, capacity-building and access to knowledge, innovation, and technology.
The Project will support the state’s unique community-based natural resource management (NRM) system, which relies primarily on its population (the Khasi, Garo, and the Jaintia tribes) to manage its forests and natural resources.
The forests are designated as ‘unclassified forests’ in the state records and for the most part do not receive technical or financial support from state institutions. There are no water-related institutions or legal frameworks for water management in the state.
The Government of Meghalaya recognizes the importance of supporting community-led interventions to restore and sustainably manage forests, land and water resources, as well as Meghalaya’s rich biodiversity, on which 80 percent of the population depend.
The project will prioritize around 400 villages located in ‘very critical’ and ‘critical’ (degraded) landscapes, over a period of five years, for their treatment.
Extensive training would be conducted for communities and project management staff at the field level in order expand the reach of the project.
Small grants will be given to kick-start innovation around natural resource management.
A special emphasis will be on creating climate resilient livelihood opportunities for communities, particularly youth and women.

It will help manage these depleting resources, by strengthening communities and traditional institutions. The Restoration of degraded and highly degraded landscapes under the project will increase water for local communities and improve soil productivity which will in turn increase incomes and reduce poverty.