The project, ‘Integrated Eco-Tourism and Sustainable Agri-Based Livelihood Development Project in Meghalaya’ which is funded by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and New Development Bank (NDB) under the Meghalayan Age Ltd. is aligned to propel green growth by promoting ecotourism and climate-resilient agriculture, protecting its natural resources, and expanding forest cover and develop nature-based climate-resilient community livelihoods improved and environmental sustainability enhanced by adopting a cluster-based approach, focusing on six key tourism clusters with significant natural and cultural attributes.

The project aims to:

1. Develop nature-based tourism infrastructure and services – Strengthen eco-tourism destinations through the development of visitor facilities, interpretation centres, cultural and experiential tourism hubs, and last-mile connectivity improvements.

2. Enhance high-value climate-smart agriculture value chains – Promote sustainable agricultural practices by supporting scientific farming, improving post-harvest infrastructure, and facilitating market linkages for high-value crops.

3. Strengthen community capacities and governance – Build skills and institutional capacity among government stakeholders, local communities, and tourism service providers to support sustainable tourism growth.

4. Improve sustainable financing mechanisms – Strengthen the Payment for Ecosystem Services (PES) program to incentivize forest conservation and eco-tourism investments, leveraging revenues from tourism fees and environmental markets.

The project has the following components:

Output 1: Nature-based tourism infrastructure and services developed - The project will support the development of climate and disaster-resilient public infrastructure and services in four tourism clusters. It will create enabling conditions for the private sector to invest in nature-based tourism operations in these clusters.

Output 2: Sustainable forest and land management enhanced - This will strengthen sustainable forest management practices and promote the adoption of climate smart and sustainable farming practices. Landowners with forest land plots will be incentivized to improve forest management practices through a PES mechanism.

Output 3: Capacities for nature-based livelihoods improved - This output will strengthen the capacity, including financial management, of local communities to enable and empower them to become more involved in the economic activities promoted by outputs 1 and 2.

The Meghalaya Institute of Governance (MIG) was engaged by the Meghalayan Age Limited (MAL) to conduct stakeholder and community consultations with the various stakeholders to help minimize and mitigate the impacts while bringing forth the challenges and issues that may arise during the implementation of the projects. The Meghalaya Institute of Governance (MIG) is assigned 22 projects for which majority of the community consultations are successfully completed.