HYDERABAD: On day two of the national workshop on ‘Effective utilisation of Compensatory Afforestation Fund Management and Planning Authority (CAMPA) funds’, senior officials from the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change (MoEFCC) conducted field visits to observe the work being done in Telangana.
The officials visited oxygen parks, urban forest parks, and the ORR lines to see the various ways in which the Telangana government had utilised the CAMPA funds. The officials were especially impressed by the State’s efforts in setting up urban forest parks all across the GHMC limits which were crucial in cutting down carbon emissions generated in the city.
“CAMPA funds have been innovatively utilised by the State government. Activities which are important but often do not find a lot of financing options have been taken up under CAMPA. The urban parks here are a typical example of how compensatory afforestation needs to be done. It is worthy of being followed by other States as well,” said Subhash Chandra, National CAMPA CEO.
Other senior officials were also impressed by the involvement of private parties and their funds for urban forestry. “Miyawaki Method has been used very well here and we have also seen how they have got in private funding for the work which can be replicated elsewhere as well,” added Sanjay Srivastav, PCCF and CEO CAMPA Uttar Pradesh.
The officials were also taken to visit the greening efforts undertaken by HMDA in the ORR region. The team was taken around an area of 70 km where they saw the various drip irrigation systems, green management in interchanges.