Shillong, Oct 3 (IANS): Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad Sangma on Thursday launched the 'GREEN Meghalaya Plus (GMP)' scheme in Tura for conservation and enhancement of forest cover.

The GMP is a part of the state government's initiative - Payment for Eco-System Services (PES), under which incentives of up to Rs 20,000 per hectare per year will be disbursed to communities and individuals for conservation and increase in forest cover.

Officials said that the 'GMP' envisages including additional expansion of 50,000 hectares (500 sq km) of forest cover under conservation.

Earlier this week, the redesigned GMP scheme was launched in Shillong.

The 'GREEN Meghalaya' scheme was launched in 2022. So far, over 3,000 individuals have benefited from the scheme and conserved more than 54,000 hectares of natural forest.

Meanwhile, speaking at the launch of the scheme, the Chief Minister expressed his gratitude to the beneficiaries from across Garo Hills, who attended the programme to celebrate the collective effort of conservation.

"In the last seven years, the government has laid the foundation and have initiated programmes that have benefited our people, which have led to accelerated growth and development. There is a huge turnaround in the size of our economy today," Sangma said.

Citing that development of different sectors is important which would push economic growth, the Meghalaya Chief Minister said: "We have to be responsible towards the environment and work in harmony to balance nature and development."

He said that the government spends on afforestation projects. However, Meghalaya has pioneered the Green Meghalaya-PES model to conserve the natural forest.

"We are conserving the forest, rather than wait to carry out afforestation projects in the future," he added.

In the last two years, the state government has spent over Rs 44 crore on conservation of forest cover, and going forward with over Rs 200 crore being earmarked for conservation efforts.

The salient feature of this scheme (PES 2.0) is the increased area coverage for participation.

Earlier, the scheme required a minimum of two hectares of forest, but the new guidelines reduced this to just one hectare, allowing smaller landowners and communities to take part.

Speaking on the occasion, Education Minister Rakkam A. Sangma hoped that this scheme would further motivate and encourage people to protect and conserve forest cover.

Terming that Garo Hills has rich green coverage, he said it is a boon and the government's initiative to provide financial assistance for conservation will surely be to the advantage of the people.

During the programme, individuals and communities from different parts of the Garo Hills expressed their gratitude to the government for the launch of the Green Meghalaya scheme, which has supported the community for conservation of natural forest.