Khasi Hills
Khasi Hills is India’s first community-based REDD+ programme, regenerating and protecting 27,000 ha of cloud forest, numerous watersheds and ancient sacred groves. It is formed of a ‘synjuk’ or cooperative federation of eleven indigenous tribal kingdoms in the mountains of Meghalaya, ‘the abode of the clouds’
Khasi Hills overview
Meghalaya is an extraordinary place, a high mountain plateau, cut off from the rest of India, and made up of Khasi Indigenous Kingdoms where people still live close to the forests. Meghalaya means abode of the clouds in Sanskrit, is one of the wettest places on earth and a global biodiversity hotspot. There are long established Khasi traditions of community forest management, sacred groves and communal forests, and a unique flora and fauna. Rapid deforestation is occurring at a rate of over 5% per year throughout the East Khasi Hills, threatening upland watersheds, household livelihoods, while also releasing substantial quantities of carbon. The project is reversing deforestation in the Khasi Hills. The project is a model that could be widely replicated throughout other areas in Northeast India.
Land area
27,000 ha
Project Status
Scaling
Participants
41,034
Founding Partner and Year
Ka Synjuk Ki Hima Arliang Wah Umiam Mawphlang Welfare Society, 2011
Certified Under
Plan Vivo Climate
TCO₂ – total verfified carbon benefit
532,459
Project Type
Avoided deforestation & assisted natural regeneration
Key Species
Mixed native tree species, Flying Squirrels, Barking Deer, Civet Cats, Macaques, Opossums and Owls
Participants
86 Community Groups, 41034 people
How it works
The project aims to slow, halt and reverse the loss of community forests in the East Khasi Hills District of Meghalaya by providing support, new technologies and financial incentives to conserve existing forests and regenerate degraded forests. Khasi Hills is a global biodiversity hotspot, providing habitat to many endangered species.
The project is delivering on it’s other core aim of addressing extreme poverty facing rural families and has established 8 women-run microfinance groups. With over 40,978 people spread across 86 villages, the project has also established 48 self help groups and 5 farmers’ clubs, benefitting over 500 farmers with training in regenerative agriculture.
As well as the plan to protect and restore hectares of cloud forest, the project includes 500 hectares of degraded forests, closed to allow natural regeneration, and a further 500 hectares are being actively reforested.
What Makes This Project Special
The Khasi Hills Community REDD+ Project is leading the way for large scale protection of forests and community lands in India. Situated in Meghalaya, the wettest part of india, a mystical and remote highland area of the north east.
Indigenous governance at scale
The project is led by traditional Khasi institutions, with community forest ownership and decision-making embedded in customary law rather than external control.
One of Asia’s first community REDD+ projects
It pioneered community-driven forest carbon finance in the region, demonstrating that Indigenous governance can deliver verified climate outcomes.
Forest protection over plantation models
Focuses on avoiding deforestation and restoring degraded forest rather than monoculture planting – keeping biodiverse native forests standing.
Sacred ecology and cultural continuity
Conservation builds on centuries-old stewardship traditions, including protection of sacred groves and culturally significant landscapes.
Landscape-level impact
Links multiple villages and forest areas into a connected conservation landscape, strengthening watershed protection and habitat continuity.
Responding to challenge
- Rapid deforestation from fires and over grazing
Fire is a major issue. The project has reinstated the Khasi tradition, the community clears fire lines. 27 km of fire lines cleared. Parts of the forest cloased to grazing further slowing deforestation.
- Reduced fuelwood consumption
Khasi households use about 20 kg every day. Fuel wood consumption outstrips forest regrowth. Project makes fuel efficient wood stoves from local materials.
- Quarrying
Synjuk has placed a moratorium on surface coal mines & stone quarries which cause deforestation and pollute streams, water supplies and fisheries.
Project Documentation
For a transparent overview of the project’s progress and impact, download the latest annual report.
Full technical documentation and curated media assets, including the Verification Statement and Project Design Document (PDD), is available to all clients through their dedicated Client Hub.