In a move aimed at restoring degraded landscapes while strengthening local livelihoods, the Senapati Forest Division initiated a Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA) exercise on January 8, 2026, at Saranamai village, located within the Barak River catchment area.
The pilot exercise involved community-based mapping of natural resources, land-use practices, and socio-economic conditions. Activities included wealth and matrix ranking, timeline assessments, and SWOT analysis to understand both environmental challenges and development opportunities. The findings will provide baseline inputs for designing targeted interventions under an upcoming CAMPA scheme supported by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change.
According to the forest division, similar PRA exercises will be conducted across all villages falling under the Barak watershed to ensure inclusive and effective planning.
The Barak River, which originates at Liyai Khullen village in Senapati district, flows through Manipur before entering Assam and eventually draining into the Bay of Bengal as the Meghna River in Bangladesh. As part of the larger Ganga-Brahmaputra river system, the Barak basin is the second-largest river basin in the Northeast and includes major tributaries such as Makru, Irang, and Tuivai.
Despite its ecological and socio-economic importance, the Barak basin has faced increasing pressure from forest fires, flooding, erosion, deforestation, shifting cultivation, landslides, and soil degradation. Officials noted that addressing these challenges requires an integrated, multi-level forestry-led approach focused on long-term watershed rejuvenation.
