Tripura Hosts First Statewide Meet to Shape Climate-Resilient Forest Strategy

By Our Correspondent

Agartala, August 6, 2025

In a major step towards sustainable forest management, the Tripura Forest Department, under the Indo-German Development Cooperation’s CREFLAT project, convened the first Statewide Stakeholders Meeting on August 2 at the JICA Conference Hall in Gandhigram.

Guided by the Technical Advisory Committee of the IGDC-CREFLAT project, the meeting brought together officials from key departments—Forest, Revenue, Tribal Welfare, Agriculture, ARDD, the Rubber Board, and the Tripura Bamboo Mission—alongside representatives from the private sector, NGOs, BSF, and academia.

Senior officials including B.M.S. Rathore, IFS (Retd), R.K. Samal, Principal Secretary (Forests), Selvaraj Prabhu, IFS, Project Director, and Prasad Rao, IFS, Director, NTFP Centre of Excellence, participated in the session. The meeting aimed to initiate the formulation of a climate-resilient forest sector strategy focused on ecosystem conservation, biodiversity, and the livelihoods of forest-dependent communities.

Discussions underscored the urgency of addressing forest degradation highlighted in the 2023 India State of Forest Report. Participants stressed that sustainable forest management is critical not only for ecological balance but also for economic and social stability in Tripura.

The meet outlined a consultative process involving grassroots-level stakeholder dialogues, integration of project learnings, and analysis of existing vision documents and strategic inputs from various sectors. The Forest Sector Strategy, expected by March 2026, will propose adaptive development pathways up to 2050 and align with India’s national development vision—Viksit Bharat 2047.

The session marked a vital beginning in shaping a future-ready forest policy framework for Tripura, based on evidence, inclusivity, and climate foresight.

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