The Imphal Valley, the heart of the state of Manipur, has for centuries lived on the waters of springs and rivers that fed its fields and villages. Today the springs are visibly shrinking, the surrounding forests are thinning, and droughts and floods come ever more often and ever more sharply. To reverse this trend, the Manipur Forest Department and the local non-governmental organisation The Indian Orient 2025 signed a memorandum of understanding and launched the five-year pilot phase of the ReTreeFy project. On the part of the state, the agreement was concluded by the Central Forest Division of the state forest department.
The aim of the project is to bring water back to the springs and restore the degraded forest tracts that feed the valley. The organisers expect the work to strengthen the region's long-term ecological sustainability and make water supply more reliable. The roles are divided straightforwardly: the forest department is responsible for technical expertise and institutional support, while The Indian Orient 2025 is responsible for field implementation, scientific research, work with residents and resource mobilisation.
Why is this urgent? Ajay Chanam of The Indian Orient 2025 cites several reasons at once: degradation of catchments, a shift in the groundwater regime, increased surface runoff, recurring floods and an acute seasonal water deficit. The link between them is direct. The forest holds moisture in the soil and maintains the territory's water regime. When it thins, rainwater quickly runs off into the channels and does not have time to seep into the ground, and therefore does not replenish the underground horizons from which the springs emerge. That is why a river in flood and a dried-up spring can coexist in the same year. The scale of the problem goes far beyond Manipur: according to an estimate by ICIMOD, drawing on a NITI Aayog report of 2018, up to half of the springs in the Indian Himalayan region have either noticeably dried up or are at a critical stage of declining discharge.
The work under the five-year plan begins with an inventory of the key springs. Next comes mapping the catchments with GIS and studying the hydrogeology of the recharge zones, that is, finding out where the water comes from and where it goes. On this basis, soil and water management measures are planned: contour trenches and bunds on the slopes, as well as plantings of native trees along riverbanks, which strengthen the soil and soften floods.
The scale of the task is also visible at the level of the entire state. The Directorate of Environment and Climate Change of Manipur has mapped more than a thousand springs, and 173 critical sources in the Ukhrul and Noney districts have been proposed for restoration under a priority scheme. In 2025 the government issued the first edition of "Springs of Manipur", with an inventory of springs, maps of critical sources and hydrogeological studies. The Deputy Chief Minister of the state, Losii Dikho, directly links the disappearance of springs to forest degradation and calls for placing their protection above disputes over land.
The methodology draws on approaches tested in the Himalayas. The approach of Pune-based ACWADAM is combined with a six-step protocol that ICIMOD developed together with this centre. The first four steps are devoted to knowledge about the spring, and the last two to practical implementation, so that science and field work go hand in hand rather than one after the other.
Residents play a key role. In the villages, water resource management committees are to be created, operating on the principle of free, prior and informed consent. In other words, decisions about the resources on which village life depends are taken with the participation of the local residents themselves. The organisers also emphasise compliance with existing environmental norms.
To support the economy, nurseries are planned where residents will grow saplings and tend the plantings. In this way, restoring nature will begin to bring income to those who live close to the water and the forest.
The five-year phase is only the first stage of a larger undertaking spanning 70 years, designed to run until 2095 and developed by The Indian Orient 2025. In the future, it is planned to plant native fruit and flowering trees, protect the rivers, develop ecotourism and pursue sustainable nature management.
The conclusion is simple: the springs and forests here cannot be saved separately. If the forest is restored to its ability to hold water, and communities are given the right to decide how to use it, the Imphal Valley will have a chance to change not only its landscape but also the lives of the people for whom these sources remain the main permanent source of water.
