Natural Resource Management |
Wasteland
Development – Social Forestry It is becoming more difficult for
wood-based industries to make demands on existing forests
given the country’s dwindling forest cover. Indian laws do
not permit captive plantations on degraded forests or
village commons. Given this, we took a conscious decision to
source pulpwood only from sustainable sources by targeting
private wastelands and surplus lands.
This ensures sustainability in three
ways:
-
India’s forest resource base remains
intact. With the beneficiaries using the loppings and
toppings from plantations for their fuelwood
requirements, the forests remain safe from depredation.
-
Provides a sustainable livelihoods
option for poor rural households
-
Supports our Paperboards business by
creating a sustainable raw material base.
| |
Cumulative
to 2005-06 |
2006-07
|
Total
To date |
|
Coverage: social
forestry |
|
|
| No. of
villages |
301 |
82 |
383 |
| No. of
beneficiaries
|
8,019
|
2,713
|
10,732 |
|
Plantation area |
|
|
|
|
(hectares) |
6,822
|
2,247
|
9,069 |
|
Saplings planted |
|
|
|
|
(millions) |
22.98
|
8.51 |
31.50 |
|
 Our social forestry initiatives, covering
14% of the total area of 65,000 hectares brought under
plantations during the year, were extended to Guntur and
Nellore, apart from Khammam and Prakasam districts of Andhra
Pradesh. The collaboration with the Government of Andhra
Pradesh contributed nearly 60% of the eucalyptus plantations
under this initiative.
Livelihoods creation on a significant scale, one of the main
objectives of the programme, is clearly evident from the
impressive number of beneficiaries and income generated.
So far 1,021 poor households have earned
Rs. 3.75 crores from harvesting mature plantations. The
repayment to the village sanghas to form the Village
Development Fund has increased to Rs. 47 lakhs. |
