'Meghalaya has serious problem about quality of forest cover'

Meghalaya has the highest forest cover which stands at 77 per cent in the country, but there is a serious problem when it comes to the quality of forest cover.
"Out of the 77 per cent forest cover in Meghalaya, only two per cent is very-dense-forest and forty five per cent is moderate-forest, while the rest falls under the category of open-forest which is hardly a forest," Principal Secretary in-charge Forest and Environment Department M S Rao said.
He was delivering a special lecture on "unlocking green opportunities" organised by the Meghalaya Economic Association today.
"We have been trying to protect the forest cover by adopting pre-conditions put forth before any proposed projects to be set up in the state," Rao said, highlighting "the state also has a stringent set of laws in terms of air, water, environment protection and so on."

The senior government official, however, was of the opinion that the state has a fairly good set of laws, but implementation of them depends solely with the enforcement, "where the weakness lies".
"We hope to redress this problem very soon," Rao said.

Stating his department has made quite a progress on this sector, he said, "We have completed mapping the forest cover in the state, a measure taken for proper management of forests."
According to him, the state is facing various challenges in term of poverty and livelihood of the people largely depend on forests.
Speaking on the occasion as the chief guest, Meghalaya Chief Secretary PBO Warjri said the state government in Meghalaya was concerned about the environment, loss of aquatic life due to pollution and deforestation.

"The government has been conscious on the need to protect environment by launching different green schemes and missions to make promote green thinking among the citizens," he said adding, "Mission Green is an effort to protect forest and make people conscious on the option to preserve the environment."
On the issue of climate change, the chief secretary said, "The recent floods which hit the state is an unusual one. It is surprising that the number of deaths are not because of floods alone, but two-thirds have died due to landslides."
"Something is going on in the environment," he said while informing that the state government had also engaged an agency to take up a study on climate change.

Warjri also release a book - "Green Economy in India".