Press Release
Source: FEWMD
A total of 15 officer trainees of the Indian Forest Service (IFS) 2014-15 batch, is on a tour to Sikkim between 22nd February to 24th February 2016. They are accompanied by their faculty member Dr. Bajali, IFS from the Indira Gandhi National Forest Academy (IGNFA). Such tours are an integral and mandatory part of forestry trainee curriculum, before he or she joins their respective states of posting. The tour program is designed to make the forest trainees understand the diversity of landscapes, forest types, conflict issues and role and importance of community in conservation in order to enable them to understand holistically the basic principal of Forest Management.
The trainees were taken for a field visit to Himalayan Zoological Park, Nampong- Lingdok Eco tourism zone and to sample forest sites to study of altitudinal zonation of Sikkim. This will followed by a meeting with His Excellency the Governor of Sikkim, visit to the Kyongnosla Alpine Sanctuary and Nathula in East Sikkim.
As part of the tour itinerary, interaction was held with the senior officers of the Forest Department which was chaired by Dr. Thomas Chandy, Principal Secretary -cum- Principal Chief Conservator of Forests. Dr. Chandy gave a brief about the uniqueness of Sikkim's forests since 82% of the total geographic area of Sikkim is forest land. Moreover since Sikkim shares international boundaries with three countries due consideration has to be given to defense related issues. Also since Sikkim is a fast developing economy a balance has to be achieved between conservation and development. He highlighted the unique initiatives undertaken by the Honorable Chief Minister of Sikkim, Shri. Pawan Chamling towards conservation and his pro-forest and pro-environment policies. He stated that these pro-forest and conservation policies conceived by the Honorable Chief Minister is famous both in India and abroad and Sikkim has been lauded internationally for taking such measures. There are several such initiatives but to name a few, ban on grazing, 1997; ban on manufacture and sale of fire crackers ; ban on burning of agricultural wastes; 100% organic farming state; ban on plastic bags. He also gave a brief about some of the ongoing projects in the state like the USAID Forest PLUS project that is aimed to develop technologies, tools and methods for sustainable forest management and get Sikkims forests REDD+ ready. He gave an insight into the ongoing Sikkim Forest Conservation and Forest Management Project and that Sikkim was a flagship project for JICA in case of a biodiversity conservation project. He advised the trainee officers on how a forest officer should be pro-people and they should make all efforts to develop skills to be a good administrator and a social worker since forests cannot be conserved without active involvement of local communities. The Chief Conservator of Forests -cum-Chief Wildlife Warden, Shri. C.S. Rao gave an insight into the various territorial laws in place to aid in conservation efforts.
The meeting ended with a vote of thanks given by one select trainee officer.