Tamil Nadu Forest Department, Government of Tamil Nadu has taken steps to counter the forest degradation with the objective to launch a massive tree plantation program in the State of Tamilnadu to bring about balanced ecological upgradtion and to meet, to the extent possible, the requirements of the local people with respect to wood and non-wood products.
Tamilnadu Afforestation Project Phase-I (TAP-I) was implemented at a cost of Rs.688 crores over 8 years from 1997-98 to 2004-05 with a soft loan from Japan Bank for International Co-operation (JBIC), which inculded Rs 205 crores as State Government share. It aimed at restoring degraded forests and also alleviating poverty in the project village. An extent of 4.80 lakh ha. of degraded forests and community lands has been covered through this TAP-I. 1367 Village Forest Councils formed with 4.66 lakh villagers as members. 23454 check dams and 2201 percolation ponds were constructed for rainwater harvesting. A combined storage of more than 800 million cubic feet of water was created. Community assets like overhead tanks, borewells, hand pumps, VFC buildings, etc. were provided to improve the quality of life in all project villages. 4722 rural development works were implemented by 22 line departments by cross sectoral linkage. Rs.41.30 crores worth of works benefitted 946 project villages spreaded over 27 districts. The 3 districts not covered were Chennai, Nagapattinam and Thiruvarur. 1,75,000 forest dependents and villagers were benefitted through alternate employment. 60 million person days of employment were generated. Rs.53 crores of Micro-credit were distributed to villagers. 3891 Self Help Groups (SHG) benefitting around 60,000 women were formed.
To consolidate the gains of TAP-I, Tamil Nadu Afforestation Project phase II (TAP II) was initiated from 01.04.2005 with an outlay of Rs.567.42 crores with a soft loan from JBIC, which includes Rs 158.34 crores as State Government share. The TAP II will be implemented over a period of 8 years from 2005 -2006 to 2012-2013 with the objective (i)to bring about ecological restoration of the degraded forests (ii) to facilitate livelihood improvement of the inhabitants of the project villages by afforestation through Joint Forest Management (iii) to contribute towards poverty reduction in the area.
For more information, about the initiatives by Tamil Nadu Forest Department for Afforestation, visit this link
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