COMMUNITY NATURAL RESOURCE MANANGMENT PLAN (CNRMP)

Anchengbok Village

Rongjeng C&RD Block, East Garo Hills

MEGHALAYA BASIN MANANGEMENT AGENCY

District Project Management Unit

Williamnagar, East Garo Hills District

August, 2021

The CONTENT

1. The Anchengbok Village

2. The Village Resources

   1. The Social Resources

   2. The Natural Resources

   3. Type of forest Cover and Wildlife

   4. Cultivable Land

   5. Water Bodies

   6. Spring Inventory

3. Problem Analysis

4. Community NRM Plan with Estimates

5. Brief Justifications on Proposed activities

   1. Community Nursery

   2. Composting

   3. Plantation/Afforestation/Reforestation

   4. Spring-shed Development and Management

   5. Check Dams

   6. Forest Management Plan

   7. Gabion Wall/Gully Plug

6. Annexure - 1

   1. Attendance Sheet

   2. LULC Map

   3. Photo Gallery

1. Anchengbok Village

The Anchengbok village falls under Rongjeng C&RD Block of East Garo Hills district in Meghalaya. The village is inhabited by Garo Community with 69 households and 399 populations out of which 212 are females and 184 are males. The VNRMC in this village was formed on 8th November 2019. The village is located 21.2 KM away from Rongjeng Block and 65 KM from the district headquarter, Williamnagar. The Land Use Land Cover (LULC) map of this village identified the GPS co-ordinates- 25.633023 and 90.793231 for latitude and longitude respectively. The village elevation reading is 571.35 msl (Annexure-1).

2. The Village Resources

   1. The Social Resources

The land ownership of this village is owned by the Headman which is called ‘Nokma A’King¹ land. The main institution in the village is the Nokma, the Village Employment Council (VEC) and 6 Self Help Groups. There is no ‘Water and Sanitation Committee’ in the village, which the CLLM-Project needs to promote. The Nokma institution consists of 4 members- the Nokma, Sordar, President and a Secretary. More than half of the total households use firewood as the main source of fuel and only about 15 HH use LPG. The village has a good electricity connectivity with 47 households being electrified. Most of the population is also farmers depending on Jhum Cultivation.

2. The Natural Resources

Through GIS technology the project has collected data which shows that Anchengbok VNRMC has a total of 216 Ha of geographical area of which, the total forest cover area is 91.51 Ha. Water bodies coverage is 1.57 Ha. The village has Agricultural land measuring of 11.70 Ha and 64.11 Ha of culturable wasteland. Arecanut plantation is the major cash crop in this village.

3. Type of Forest Cover and Wildlife in Anchengbok Village

The LULC provided that total forest land in this VNRMC is 91.51 Ha which comprises of dense forest as well as open forest. There is community forest reserved for conserving the flora and fauna of the village. The villagers are not allowed to cut trees or practice jhum cultivation on this reserve land. The indigenous species of trees found in this village are Sal (Shorea-robusta), Boldak (Schima wallichii) ,Dimbil (Fig tree), Kimde (Ironwood), Agol, Jackfuit, Tebret, Bolkasin (Xylia xylocarpa), Neem, Mau, Gasampe, Litchi , Nosing (Curry Leaves), Chambu (Black Plum), Agimik, and Terimu (Sal Tree Maximum). During the VNRM Plan preparation, the villagers have agreed to improve this community open forest. In addition to this, fodder species used by the villagers for feeding the cattle are Nengitchak, thysanolaena spp., Dakdak. There are also NTFPs in the forest like Bamboo, Calamus and floribundus and herbs. Due to reduction in forest cover and unavailability of food, the existing fauna such as Deer, Monkey, Squirrel, jungle fowl are in danger and decreasing in population.

4. Cultivable Land

The village has 11.70 Ha of agricultural and 40.42 Ha of land is covered by plantation which is mostly arecanut. The land is becoming less productive due to unavailability of irrigation facilities, soil erosion and deforestation.

5. Water Bodies

The village has 5 springs namely Nengtuju Spring, Daru Bisik, Nengdrong Bisik, Anchengbok Bipek and Anchengbok Bisik. All these springs are perennial, however, during the lean season, the water discharge reduces to large extend. Only one spring has been tested out of these water bodies as on date for intervention. These water bodies are used for domestic, irrigation and other purposes. Water crisis occur during the months of February, March, and April. To tackle water shortage from springs, spring chambers were built in Nengtuju spring and Daru spring funded by CLLM-Project. These spring chambers have been very helpful to 20 households.

6. Spring Inventory

The Master Trainers have (VCFs) taken the discharge measurement of Anchengbok spring (latitude of 25.636764°N and longitude of 90.796168 °E with elevation of 521.63 M). It is a depression spring and perennial in nature. The spring water is used for drinking and for domestic purposes. Spring discharge was calculated 3.2 LPM through stopwatch- bucket method. The pH value of the spring is 6.63 LPM. The catchment area of spring is in the private land. Broad geology in and around the spring location is of weathered rock. Not only this, the VCFs measure all the springs every month and submit the data to Asst. Manager (Environment Management) for spring mapping.

3. Problem Analysis

The above village resource data collected through GIS technology, primary data collection made through CNRMP template and Spring Inventory templates suggests that the village is still rich in natural resources. At the same time natural resource degradation has started in this village that needs planned actions and interventions. The area of open forest is increasing and dense forest decreasing in the village. This is due to slash and burn cultivation, cutting down of trees for timber, firewood and for plantation for immediate economic benefit. These have resulted in less water discharge of water from springs, streams and rivers which has brought about low moisture content in the ground, loss of soil fertility and deterioration in land productivity. The flora and fauna in the village are also reducing drastically.

4. Community Natural Resource Management Plan with estimation

Having understood the natural resources of Anchengbok and having foreseen the upcoming threats to land, water and forest, the Villagers and VEC members of the village came together on the 8^th Nov 2019 to form the VNRMC In order to identify and plan out interventions to address challenges faced in their village both in terms of NRM issues and their economic issues. The VEC with facilitation from DPMU-EGH and SPMU proposed a list of activities to be taken up in next three years’ time within the budget provision. The villagers strongly feel that these interventions would enable them to conserve and improve the natural resources for their future generations.

Proposed Activities Table-1

Sl no	Proposed activities	Site Name	Benefitted area (Ha)		No. of HH benefit		Estimated Amt. (INR)		Date of work order issue	Date of work started	Date of work completion
	CC Check Dam	Rongrure Stream	4.5		24		270000		05-Feb-20	12-Mar-20	28-Mar-20
	Afforestation	LP School Compound	13.55		72		180000		09-Jun-20	14-Jul-20	13-Aug-20
	Community Nursery	Chimikgre Reserve	4.12		72		108840		09-Jun-20	08-Jun-20	22-Aug-20
	Spring Chamber	Nengtuju Spring	2		10		143800		25-Jan-21	08-Feb-21	27-Feb-21
	Agro-Forestry	LP School Compound	12.34		72		192400		02-Jun-21	08-Jun-21	16-Jun-21
	RCC Check Dam	Nengtuju Bipek Stream	9		11		259800		08-Jul-21	19-Jul-21	21-Aug-21
	Dug Out Pond	Abobil	8.95		72		90300		05-Oct-21	15-Oct-21	24-Oct-21
	Dug Out Pond	Nengtuju Bisik	8.96		72		83900		05-Oct-21	07-Oct-21	20-Oct-21
	Hot Composting	Church Compound	12.3		72		32800		03-Dec-21	10-Dec-21	27-Dec-21
	Spring Chamber	Daru Bisik	2.5		10		160300		03-Dec-21	16-Dec-21	20-Dec-21
	Erosion Control Gabion Wall	Songmong	15		72		147000		05-May-22	07-Jun-22	27-Jun-22
	Lemon Plantation (Horticulture)	Lucas Marak'S Land	9.8		72		86400		05-May-22	26-May-22	26-May-22
	Water Storage Tank	Rongrure	2.5		50		169000		05-May-22	19-Sep-22	21-Oct-22
	RCC Check Dam	Chimikgre	5.6		16		230460		05-May-22	04-Jul-22	26-Jul-22
	RCC Check Dam	Anchengbok Bipek	4.5		10		144200		17-Jun-22	26-Sep-22	25-Oct-22
	Open Well (2 nos)	Abobil	2.5		16		112500		17-Jun-22	03-Oct-22	22-Oct-22
	Water Storage Tank	Chimikgre	3		11		243300		17-Jun-22	21-Sep-22	26-Oct-22
	TOTAL			121.12		734		2655000

5. Brief Justification on the Proposed Activities

   1. Community Nursery

The details of the Community Nursery can be seen in table 1. The proposed nursery is meant for raising the saplings which will be planted in the open forest, catchment areas, reserve forest and private and covering to a total of around 91.51 ha of land. The roads connected to the village are far to the market, so sourcing building would pose as a challenge for the villagers, but since natural resources like water, trees, bamboo, etc. are readily available to them, they can quite easily construct an environment friendly nursery.

2. Composting

The villagers have also proposed to improve land productivity of agricultural land using composting so that the soil will be more fertile and that healthy plants in return would fetch more productivity leading to increased income.

3. Plantation/Afforestation/Reforestation

In this village there are only open forest in the village which is about 76.05 Ha. Villagers have realized that open forests are increasing which led to climate change and loss of biodiversity is increasing day by day. The villagers have decided to carry out Afforestation or reforestation & Agro-forestry both in the open forests as well as in the private. The committee members encouraged the villagers to plant fruit bearing and water retaining trees while carrying out reforestation for the benefits of all fauna and human beings alike. It will also restore and maintain balance in biodiversity.

4. Spring-shed Development and management

There are 5 nos of springs in the village which are perennial. The water discharge from these springs reduces drastically during the lean season. Development of spring-shed approach in this village along with rejuvenation activities such as afforestation, contour and staggered trenches in the catchment areas benefitting to about N/A ha of land that would help in increasing the discharge both peak and lean season catering to 75 households and reduced drudgery, especially of women.

5. Check Dam

Since there are unavailability of irrigation facilities during the month of February to April and the land become less productive, villagers have proposed 4 nos of check dam to be constructed for irrigation and domestic purpose of around 12 households will be benefiting from it. It is expected that 0.25 ha of land will be benefiting from this structures. Availability of water throughout the season can help the villagers to practice multiple cropping and follow crop rotation throughout the year which will increase the production and their income as well.

6. Forest Management Plan

The village has a Reserve forest which has been preserved by the community but due to extraction of timber by the villager themselves now it is consider as open forest. After the villagers realized that open forests were increasing which leads to climate change and loss biodiversity is increasing day by day. They wanted to reclaim the forest which is around 4ha to be brought under forest management plan which further increase its forest cover, take more preventive measures, etc.

7. Gabion Wall/Gully plug

The village has constructed a Gabion wall at Songmong in order to control land sliding on road sides and also to prevent the water logging area from further destruction. This has prevent blockage of road ,soil erosion etc.

6. Annexure – 1

Attendance Sheet

LULC MAP

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1. The land belongs to a clan which is called Nokma A’king land. It is under the custody of its female head, the Nokma, whose husband acts on her behalf in all clan decision-making; the Nokma has no authority to take decisions on land and its use. Decisions are meant to be collective among representatives of the clan.↩︎