RELEASE: WRI India Commits to Implementing Landscape Restoration in Madhya Pradesh, Focusing on Climate and Communities

The Madhya Pradesh Forest Department and other government officials, NABARD, WRI India and participants from the private sector convene to discuss the potential of landscape restoration and its multiple environment and development benefits, including the improvement of rural livelihoods. Landscape restoration is an integrated approach that seeks to regain ecological functionality and enhance human well-being through interventions such as forest regeneration, agroforestry, soil and moisture conservation.

Bhopal (July 22, 2016) – Starting today, WRI India is hosting a two-day workshop in Bhopal with an aim to bring together various stakeholders to identify landscape restoration opportunities and challenges in Madhya Pradesh. The expected outcome of this workshop is well-aligned with the Government of India’s commitment to the UNFCCC, National Mission for Green India and National Agroforestry Policy, 2014.

Participants of the workshop included K.K Singh, Former MLA Madhya Pradesh, R. Parasuram, State Election Commissioner, Manoj Shrivastava, Department of Culture, Madhya Pradesh, Anurag Shrivastava and Pankaj Shrivastava, Madhya Pradesh Forest Department and Srinivas Mohan T, NABARD.

In the first session, panelists expressed insights and identified the foundational building blocks necessary for enforcing and scaling landscape restoration in Madhya Pradesh and how local communities could benefit from these interventions. R. Parasuram, State Election Commissioner, said, “Livelihoods should form an integral part of the landscape restoration approach taken in Madhya Pradesh. Our strategy must enhance the communities’ resilience to climate change.”

Manoj Shrivastava, Department of Culture, Madhya Pradesh, extended his support to WRI India’s Landscape Restoration programme, highlighting the importance of our culture. He said, “There is a clear gap between traditional and scientific knowledge when it comes to land use and land practices. Landscape restoration must be used as a tool to bridge this gap, incorporating not only ecological integrity but also addressing culture and tradition. Our lifestyles must be altered to harmonize with the law of the land.”

Lokendra Thakkar, EPCO, who was on the opening panel addressing policy and technology discussed the state action plan on climate change and how it can be used as a vehicle to scale up landscape restoration. “The potential of landscape restoration has gained more attention in the recent past due to its connection with climate change. An ideal approach is when we integrate measures of both climate change mitigation and adaptation. Given the uncertainties associated with climate change impacts, landscape approaches could be ‘low-regret’ or ‘no-regret’.”

Rohini Chaturvedi, Strategy Head – Landscape Restoration, WRI India introduced the Restoration Opportunities Assessment Methodology (ROAM), developed by IUCN and WRI, which is a flexible and broadly participatory method for systematically analyzing restoration opportunity at the national and sub-national levels. In India, WRI India is adapting and applying the ROAM to analyze restoration opportunity at the national level as well as in two states - Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh.

Nitin Pandit, Managing Director and CEO, WRI India, at the opening plenary of the two-day workshop said, “If the benefits flowing out of restored landscape in Madhya Pradesh are shown, both, quantitatively and comprehensively through WRI India’s existing tools and models, government representatives and the public in general could display a more positive role in developing and implementing such a process.”

Through this two-day workshop, WRI India hopes to engage in strategic planning and implementation related to landscape restoration, with a focus on climate change and improved livelihoods in Madhya Pradesh.

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The World Resources Institute is a global research organisation that spans more than 50 countries, with offices in the United States, China, India, Brazil, and more. Our more than 450 experts and staff work closely with leaders to turn big ideas into action to sustain our natural resources—the foundation of economic opportunity and human well- being. www.wri.org

WRI India is an environmental group that works closely with leaders to turn big ideas into action to sustain India's natural resources - the foundation of economic opportunity and human well-being. www.wri-india.org

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