Ho Municipal District

The target area was found to be under intense human pressure due to extraction of resources and livestock grazing. Ecological literacy among the community being low has led to direct damage to the forest, such as putting on fire in the forests to get fresh sprouts, thus causing uncontrolled forest fire; cutting down younger trees and saplings for firewood, etc. The wildlife population is very low owing to these reasons. Loss of forest and ground vegetation causes massive erosion in the forest area and results in the deposition of sand and silt on the productive soil, which affects agriculture productivity and ultimately the livelihood of people. To counter this, this project proposes to expand the purview of work with two main aims.

1. Improving forest condition by undertaking direct restoration measures, and by reducing the effects of drivers of deforestation and habitat degradation
2. Reducing vulnerability of the fringe communities to the changes in ecosystem by providing livelihood opportunities and restoring ecological conditions in the village areas.

All families are not equally dependent on the reserve for resources; those who are poor and have no extra skills or resources to earn a livelihood are vulnerable to being more dependent, thus causing biotic disturbance on the reserve. FHI brought in those families under the project purview. The other direct beneficiaries were frontline staff of Kalapka Game Production Reserve who were trained in participatory protection and management activities. At least 20 frontline staff have been trained.