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10th Annual JICA National Workshop hosted by Uttarakhand Forest Resource Management Project (UFRMP)

The 10th Annual JICA National Workshop was held at Mussorie, Uttarakhand on 11th and 12th of April, 2018 hosted by the Uttarakhand Forest Resource Management Project (UFRMP). The National Workshop was inaugurated by the Hon'ble Chief Minister, Uttarakhand Sri Trivendra Singh Rawat on 11.04.2018 at Savoy Hotel Mussorie. Other dignitaries present during the inaugural ceremony were Sri Hari Kumar Singh Rawat, Minister for Forests, Uttarakhand, Sri. Siddhanta Das IFS, Director General of Forests cum Special Secretary, Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change, New Delhi, Sri. Saibal Dasgupta IFS, Additional Director General of Forests, MoEF & CC, New Delhi, Sri. Ranveer Singh IAS, Additional Chief Secretary, Government of Uttarakhand, Sri. SS Negi Former Director General of Forests MoEF & CC, Sri Jai Raj IFS, Principal CCF and HOFF, Uttarakhand, Takema Sakamoto, Chief Representative JICA India and Tori Uemachi, Senior Representative JICA India and Sri. Anup Mallik IFS, Chief Project Director, Uttarakhand Forest Resource Management Project. Hon'ble Chief Minister, Uttarakhand highlighted the relevance of the Conservation of forest resources and the disaster management works in this hilly state under the project. Subsequently the exhibition in connection with the National Workshop was inaugurated by Sri Hari Kumar Singh Rawat, Minister for Forests. Takema Sakamoto, Chief Representative JICA India in his speech gave an overview about the forestry project in India supported by JICA and specifically explained the relevance of such project in area of forest development, disaster mitigation, gender mainstreaming in states like Uttarakhand. Project Director, OFSDP Phase-II Sri. L.K. Tewari IFS attended the workshop at Mussoire along with Dr. Pradeep Raj Karat IFS, Joint Project Director.

The following Keynote presentations were made on the first day of the workshop.

1. Sri. Saibal Dasgupta, Additional Director General of Forests, MoEF & CC, New Delhi who is also holding charge of Director General Forest Survey of India on forest cover analysis and ISFR 2017.
2. Sri. Vineet Sarin, Additional Chief Development Officer, JICA India on the broad milestones of JICA projects in India.
3. Sri. Som Pal, Founder Chairman of International Competence Centre for Organic Agriculture ICCOA on the Potential of organic products in livelihood development: Challenges and Opportunities While highlighting on the potential of organic farming he cautioned about the deleterious effects of Pesticides and other chemicals in agriculture causing an escalation in the cost of health care in the GDP.
4. Sri. Vineet Rai, Chairman and Founder Aavishkaar Social Venture Capital Fund on the Challenges and opportunities for scaling up small livelihood initiatives.

Subsequently, the workshop covered the following sessions in two days' time wherein various speakers from different States implementing the JICA assisted forestry projects and other experts in the field presented on relevant themes.

1. Sustainable Forest Management with Focus on New approaches on enhancement of forest productivity, innovative approaches on afforestation/reforestation under JICA projects, Issues & Challenges for sustainability.
2. MIS and GIS: Use of enabling technology Framework with Demonstration of new technologies and user applications for MIS and GIS. In this session, details on Technology Innovations for Survey & Demarcation and Decision Support system for easy access to information were deliberated.
3. Livelihood Approaches: Pathways to Scale. In this session presentation was made on the concepts of Livelihood Resource Centre proposed to be set under Odisha Forestry Sector Development Project Phase-II.
4. International Conventions and Relevance for JICA Forestry Projects in India. India's commitments and potential for JICA Forestry Projects to contribute to INDCs and Biodiversity Conservation Initiatives under JICA Projects with a Case Study of Kanchunjunga National Park, Sikkim were deliberated.

Before the valedictory session, there was group discussion on different themes involving the project implementation in various states and four thematic groups out of the participants of the workshop deliberated on the subjects to arrive at the action points for consideration. Each group made separate presentations on the analysis and action points on individual themes discussed.

The valedictory function was chaired by Sri. Jai Raj IFS, Principal CCF and HoFF, Uttarakhand. The findings and key recommendations of each of the sessions was presented by Dr. R.S. Bisht, CCF, Uttarakhand and session was addressed by Tori Uemachi, Senior Representative JICA India and Sri. Anup Mallik IFS, Chief Project Director, Uttarakhand Forest Resource Management Project. The wrap session was coordinated by Mr. Jayesh Bhatia, PMC Team Leader, NRMC who gave vote of thanks to all the participants before the two days' workshop closed.

On the third day on 13.04.2018, there was field visit to Mussorie Forest Division to have an exposure on following works under Uttarakhand Forest Resource Management Project.

1. Plantation of high quality Akhrot (Juglans regia) mother plants with the objective of preparation of propagating material to produce high quality akhrot and carried out over 3Ha in Magra Reserved Forest.
2. Plantation of high quality Akhrot plants in agriculture fields with the objective of increasing the income level of local villagers. A total of 323 nos. planted by 36 farmers.
3. Soil and Moisture Conservation works – improved Pine Needle (Chir Pine) check dams.
4. Preparation of organic manure from Chir Pirul which strated since November 2017.
5. Water Conservation Works in Almus Lava Khala micro catchment – Construction of RCC Pond.
6. NTFP Plantation of Medicinal Species – Tejpat (Cinnamomum tamala) and Timur (Zanthoxylum armatum).