What were the steps taken by the government in meghalaya to prevent soil erosion and deforestation?
Answers
Answer:
The key environmental concerns in Meghalaya constitute deforestation,
fragmentation of forests, soil degradation, biodiversity loss and contamination and silting of
water bodies. Unregulated, unscientific, and often illegal mining and logging, and the
practice of short cycles of jhum are responsible for these. While unregulated and illegal
activities are a result of an absence of clear resource use policies, including the land use
policy, and lack of clarity in ownership rights of resources, the paucity of technical and other
support for improvement in jhum cultivation, and an almost total absence of inputs
emanating from research on small area and eco-friendly high yielding varieties of rain-fed
crops has resulted in soil erosion, degradation, and low productivity. Contamination and
silting of water bodies has been caused by unregulated and unscientific mining, forest
clearing, and unsustainable short cycles of jhum
Explanation:
Industrial zones should only be located in non-fragile areas, and should include only
those activities which are favourable to the local environmental and resource
conditions, such as processing non-toxic, locally available raw materials, and investment
that generates local employment. There is good potential in the state for the
development of small and cottage industries. This will add value to locally available raw
material, mainly based on forest, plant, animal, and mineral wealth. This will also
provide dispersed employment.
The adoption of scientific mining and compliance with a well-designed environmental
management plan under the EIA notification should be able to check environmental
problems relating to mining to a great extent. However, the challenge is that neither the
EPA 1986 nor the EIA notification 1994 is applicable to all these areas.
In view of the enormity of the environmental concerns, besides revenue implications
for the state, environmental clearance should be made mandatory for mining in the
state irrespective of size. (At present, this is not essential for area less than 5 ha.)
Owners of the mines and people engaged in the activity and living locally should be
educated about the environmental consequences of unscientific mining. A well thought
out and planned awareness programme should be undertaken for all the stakeholders.
For this, a nodal agency needs to be identified and adequate resources should be
provided for such programmes.
There is a dearth of appropriate technology for rehabilitation of mine-affected areas,
which are site-specific. Therefore, a comprehensive programme of technology
development for eco-restoration of these areas needs to be taken up. Besides, existing
technologies should be applied immediately for the rehabilitation of mined areas. Social
issues and human health problems in mining areas also need to be addressed.
Answer:
State and Regional Development Plans (including Meghalaya. Vision 2030) . ... Table 7.9: Steps and Methods of Restoration of Timber Resources . ... Table 7.50: Value Calculation for Prevention of Soil Erosion . ... Causes of forest degradation and/or deforestation in the state are categorized into two groups
Explanation: