1. Sustainable Management of Natural Resources in the Pilot Project Areas.

2. Natural Resources will include among others Sacred Grove, Clan Forests, Private Forests, Raid or Community Forests and catchments of Water Sources.

3. For the Management of the area, a landscape approach should be adopted.

4. To ensure active participation of the people in the planning process, special efforts will be made on Capacity Building. This will include Manual GIS Mapping of Natural Resources, present Infrastructure etc. by the Communities themselves, to enable them to understand the extent and current position of their Natural Resources and need for their conservation and protection. In addition, PRA Exercises, SWOT Analysis with community participation, and formation and training of Self Help Groups (SHGs) will be taken up.

5. In order to achieve the objectives mentioned above, Two Core Groups, namely one Higher Level Core Group (HLCG) and one Lower Level Core Group (LLCG) comprising of Myntris and Headmen on one hand and Local Youths on the other, will be selected from among the communities. These groups will be imparted an Orientation on the aims and objectives of the Project. These groups will also be given training in various facets of Forest and Natural Management Techniques, Forest Related Government Schemes and Policies. These will subsequently be translated in to the local dialect, published in a Manual form and distributed to all the community members including members of the Executive Dorbar of Hima Mawphlang as well as the Headmen and Executive members of all Village Dorbars. At this point, it maybe mentioned that both the HLCG and LLCG were subsequently combined to form one group name the Local Working Committee (LWC). Training will also be imparted on Micro-Financing and Preparation of Conservation Friendly Micro-Development Plans for the Project. These groups will also be given training on manual GIS mapping to be followed by Community Mapping of all forests and Sacred Grove in the Project Site with GPS. The final objective being the preparation of detailed Landuse Maps and digitization of the same.

6. Another item of the planning strategies will be the holding of a Stake Holders Workshop of all State Government Departments and NGOs concerned with Sustainable Management of Natural Resources in Meghalaya. The aim of the Workshop is to seek the cooperation and funding from concerned agencies for successful implementation of the Pilot Projects by channeling of necessary funds and assistance for development of the Project Areas.

7. To negotiate with the Forest Department of Meghalaya through the signing of MoU to ensure support through the Forest Development Agencies to partially meet the fund support required to implement the Project.

8. To document the Customary Laws relating to the Management of Forests, the analysis of such Laws vis-à-vis the State, Central, and District Council Forest Rules and Regulations and Identification of areas of conflict and reconciliation thereof.

9. In order to assist the preparation of Natural Resources Management Plan, it was decided to carry out a sample Tree enumeration survey of all the Forest areas of the Project Site. This will also include a detailed Biodiversity Survey and analysis.

In order to implement the strategies enumerated above, Yearly Work Plans were devised wherein the Objectives, the Activities involved the Principal Implementers, the Output and the Verification Indicators and the Time Framed for each activity has been prepared in detail, year-wise from 2005 onwards. These Work Plans have been designated as under:

     (i)   Meghalaya Work plan 2005 - 2006 covering the year 2005.
     (ii)  Meghalaya Work plan 2006 covering the year 2006.
     (iii) Meghalaya Work plan 2007 covering the year 2007.