Shillong, Meghalaya, Northeast India – In response to a local community’s increased concerns about water scarcity and spring contamination, FAO’s Forest and Water Programme collaborated with WeForest, the University of Twente and the Ka Synjuk Ki Hima Arliang Wah Umiam Mawphlang Welfare Society to hold a Forest-Water Capacity Building Workshop seeking to support the community to build their understanding of forest-water relationships in their native East Khasi Hills. The workshop was held at the ICSSR North-Eastern Hill University campus over a five-day period, and was attended by the project’s technical and community team, government forestry officers and university staff.

With 94% of participants feeling confident to speak to others on forest-water interactions by the end of the event, the workshop helped to develop tools for a practical way forward. As a result of the training, participants identified and operationalised forest-water priorities for the East Khasi Hills. Group consensus showed interest in increased cohesion among stakeholders, and encouraged more exchange of information across institutions. For example, participants were curious to know the water challenges faced by other forest-dependent communities. The workshop was highly successful and the lessons learned from this workshop will contribute to the continued collaboration between WeForest and FAO, as well as informing FAO’s Forest and Water five-year action plan and monitoring tool, and supporting WeForest’s work on forest-water-climate nexus.  

The comprehensive workshop report is available here.