Narmada Landscape Restoration Project to maintain sustainable landscape practices in Narmada basin, Two new Zoos in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh granted recognition by Central government
Narmada Landscape Restoration Project to maintain sustainable landscape practices in Narmada basin
- NTPC Ltd., one of India’s largest integrated energy company and a PSU under Ministry of Power, signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Indian Institute of Forest Management (IIFM), Bhopal to implement the Narmada Landscape Restoration Project.
- The program is in partnership with a grant in aid from NTPC Ltd and United States Agency for International Development (USAID) in equal proportions.
- The 4-year project will be implemented in Khargone District of Madhya Pradesh, in the catchments of selected tributaries of the River Narmada between Omkareshwar and Maheshwar dams.
- IIFM, Bhopal, an Autonomous Institute under the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF&CC), GoI with the grant-in-aid from NTPC, Ltd. will be jointly implementing this project with Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI), an intergovernmental organization that promotes sustainable and inclusive economic growth in emerging economies.
- NLRP’s collaborative and participatory approach will demonstrate the interdependency of the upstream sustainably managed forest and farm practices on downstream water resources.
- The project aims to establish an incentivisation mechanism that can continue to support the riparian forest and farm communities of the Narmada basin to maintain sustainable landscape practices.
- This is expected to positively impact the water quality and quantity in the Narmada tributaries.
- Through NLRP, NTPC Ltd. is extending its support to demonstrate nature-based solutions for enhancing ecosystem services, primarily water.
- NLRP’s theme is aligned with NTPC’s sustainability approach of contributing towards a clean and sustainable environment concerning land, water and air.
- We are very proud and excited to have partnered with IIFM, GGGI and USAID in this project which will benefit the farmers, forest communities as well as women in the catchment of river Narmada in Khargone district of Madhya Pradesh.
- This consortium project with the collaboration of NTPC – IIFM – GGGI – USAID will open new vistas that will manage our watersheds to maintain water quality and supplement Smart Cities by introducing a smarter way of purification of urban water supplies.
- Incentives to downstream rural communities for maintenance of ecosystem services of natural forests and creation of man-made buffers for natural purification of water will be a win-win situation for water consumers of Indore as well as residents of villages in the source water zone.
- On scaling up, the incentivisation mechanism and its resultant improvement in water quality and quantity are expected to greatly benefit the city of Indore, which draws over 60% of its municipal water supply from River Narmada.
Two new Zoos in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh granted recognition by Central government
- At the 37th General Body meeting of Central Zoo Authority chaired by Union Minister for Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Shri Prakash Javadekar two new zoos the Rajgir Zoo Safari in Nalanda, Bihar and Shaheed Ashfaque Ullah Khan Prani Udyaan in Gorakhpur, Uttar Pradesh were granted recognition.
- The Environment Minister also applauded the good progress in developing a 10-year Vision Plan for the up-gradation of 15 select zoos in the country to global standards which is hoped to ‘twin’ top Indian and foreign zoos and also bring in the corporate sector to invest in modernization as part of this project.
- The Minister also said that early next year an investors summit will also happen to take this agenda forward.
Rajgir Zoo Safari, Nalanda, Bihar
- Rajgir Zoo Safari, in the eastern state of Bihar was granted recognition during the General Body meeting of the Central Zoo Authority on December 07, 2020.
- The zoo is established exclusively comprising on only safari enclosures which, on contrary to conventional enclosure, offer larger space for captive animals.
- There are five safari enclosures and a walk-in proposed in the zoo.
- The zoo proposes to house Lion, Bear, Tiger, Leopard and a mixed safari of common herbivore species such as Spotted Deer, Sambar among others.
- The zoo is located close to the historically important Nalanda and is expected to have a high footfall.
- The establishment of the zoo was personally monitored by the Chief Minister of the state.
- The zoo will display wild animals in naturalistic safari enclosures and promote awareness of towards wildlife conservation.
Shaheed Ashfaque Ullah Khan Prani Udyaan, Gorakhpur, U.P.
- Shaheed Ashfaque Ullah Khan Prani Udyaan, Gorakhpur, U.P Bihar was granted recognition during the General Body meeting of the Central Zoo Authority on December 07, 2020.
- With this, the state of Uttar Pradesh has a total of 9 zoos.
- The zoo is situated in the spiritual land of Gorakhpur and has a high visitation.
- The zoo features enclosures for a range of birds, herbivores and carnivores.
- The zoo aims to create awareness through naturalistic enclosures and create long-lasting visitor experience through state-of-the-art visitor facilities like 4D Theatre, battery-operated train and accessibility to Divyangjan.
