Meghalaya launches bamboo carbon project to restore degraded land, boost rural incomes
Shillong, Aug 15 (IANS) The Meghalaya government has launched a new bamboo-centric afforestation initiative aimed at restoring degraded land, enhancing carbon sequestration and creating an additional source of income for local communities through the generation of verifiable carbon credits, officials said.
The ground-level rollout of the Bamboo Centric Afforestation (Verra-ARR) Carbon Project began with a plantation drive attended by Meghalaya government representatives, project partners and local participants, officials added on Friday.
MLA and Advisor to the Meghalaya government Ampareen Lyngdoh and Umroi MLA Damanbait Lamare were present at the programme.
The project is being implemented by Compliance Kart Private Limited in collaboration with the Meghalaya Basin Management Authority (MBMA), with the Meghalaya Basin Development Authority (MBDA) providing technical support as co-proponent.
The initiative focuses on degraded community and privately owned lands across the Khasi and Garo Hills, where bamboo has traditionally played an important role in the local ecology and rural economy.
Rather than relying solely on fresh plantations, the project will adopt a combination of enrichment planting and assisted natural regeneration to revive degraded mixed native-bamboo forests. Several indigenous bamboo species have been identified for the programme, including Dendrocalamus hamiltonii, Bambusa pallida, Bambusa tulda, Bambusa jaintiana, Bambusa balcooa and Melocanna baccifera.
The project seeks to increase bamboo stocking density and strengthen the capacity of restored landscapes to absorb and store carbon over the long term.
The resulting carbon credits are expected to be independently verifiable, with a portion of the economic benefits proposed to flow to farmers and communities managing the land.
The initiative assumes added significance because much of Meghalaya’s land is governed through customary ownership systems involving Khasi and Garo clans, Dorbar Shnongs, Nokmas and private landholders.
The plantation drive marked the beginning of an initiative that seeks to combine ecological restoration with economic opportunity.
If implemented at scale, the project could give Meghalaya’s traditional bamboo resources a wider role in climate action, forest restoration and sustainable rural livelihoods, while integrating local communities into the emerging carbon economy.
–IANS
tdr/khz