The state cabinet recently granted approval to the Bengaluru-basedInstituteof Wood Science and Technology (IWST) toprepareaworkingplan for North and South Goaforestdivisions. The plan will help evaluate the status of forests and Resources within a forest division, assess the impact of past management practices and help decide about suitable management intervention for future.
Periodical updating and revision of a working plan is essential to keep pace with the trends emerging out of forest-people interface and to address national and international obligations. Therefore, the Union Environment ministry has adopted a uniform code the National Working Plan Code in 2014 for the purpose.
The working plan for South Goa forest division expired in March 2021 and an extension for two years from 2021-2022 to 2022-2023 was granted by the. Union environment ministry. Further, the working plan of North Goa forest division is valid up to March 2022, following extension. Hence, the revision of workingplansof both the divisions is to be taken up immediately, the cabinet note said.