Rajasthan undertakes biodiversity conservation project with French assistance

With the support of the French development agency Agence Francaise de Developpement (AFD), Rajasthan has undertaken a biodiversity conservation project in eastern districts of the state.

The Rajasthan Forestry and Bio development Project planned by the Rajasthan Forest Department with the support of AFD had already received the nod of the state government.

The project funded by the French agency visions to advance with the support of local communities and has provisions for promoting eco-tourism and other sustainable income generation activities in the target villages with assistance to nearly 1200 self-help groups.

A group of representatives including India's AFD director Bruno Bosle, Rajasthan Principal secretary forest Sreya Guha, Chief Secretary Niranjan Arya and various senior state government officials discussed the project details in Jaipur on Thursday.

"Community empowerment will be a key aspect of the project and thus would include various efforts to increase the income of the local communities without adversely impacting the local natural ecosystem," said Guha.

The project will cover districts of Alwar, Baran, Bhilwara, Bharatpur, Bundi, Dausa, Dholpur, Jaipur, Jhalawar, Karauli, Kota, Sawaimadhopur and Tonk with a focus on conserving biological diversity. Under the project afforestation will be carried on 33,000 hectares of land along with conservation in 40,000 hectares of existing forest, in addition nearly 3000 hectares of sacred groves have been proposed for conservation management under the project, said a release by the state government.

The release further stated that along with the promotion of plantation work outside the designated forest areas, restoration of degraded forest and development of plant micro reserves will also be held under this project and will employ modern techniques for real-time monitoring for forest areas. A biodiversity park is also proposed to be developed in Bharatpur as part of the project.

( With inputs from ANI )