Mancherial conference focuses on forest conservation, tribal livelihoods and human-animal conflict

A two-day conference in Mancherial brought Forest and Tribal Welfare officials and NGOs together to discuss forest conservation, tribal livelihoods and human-animal conflict. Participants stressed value addition to forest products, sustainable development and greater coordination among departments.

Mancherial: A two-day long conference among Forest, Tribal Welfare and NGOs over interface issues and possible way forward culminated here on Thursday. Collector Kumar Deepak were the chief guest of the concluding day.

Kumar Deepak stressed the need to create economic activities for stakeholders for effective protection of the forest and wildlife. Society for Elimination of Rural Poverty Chief Executive Officer Divya Devarajan shared her insights over a video call. She emphashized to create processing units and to add value to forest minor products with the help of government schemes. She wanted the forest and tribal welfare to explore new possibilities for tribals.

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Field director, Kawal Tiger Reserve, Shantharam, DFOs Balamani, Prashanth Bobade, Rahul Kishan Jadhav and ITDA-Utnoor project Manda Makarandu also spoke at the event. They explained measures being taken to protect the forests and wild animals, besides preventing poaching, encroaching and felling of teak trees. They narrated how they were creating income generating initiatives for tribals using forest products.

Speakers at the conference delved on mitigating human and animal conflicts, involving tribals in conservation of the forests and promoting sustainable development models by tapping schemes of both State and union governments. An action plan had been prepared to move forward in this direction by having coordination among various departments, officials said.

FDOs Rammohan, Surveshwar, Vijay, Venu Babu, Ramana Murthy, Bhargav Kumar, Appaiah, Anitha, K Aravind, FROs, NGOs Kishan Mitra, Central People Forestry, Pragathi Organic Mix, Ekalavya Foundation, Centre for Collective Development, Vijayavahini Charitable Foundation, Dhatri, Tribal United Forum, Gramin Samasya Mukthi Trust of Maharashtra, environmentalists and many others were present.