The recommendations that follow are the inputs of the above approaches.

(i) Soils are one of the most important non renewable natural resources and must be conserved and managed properly to retain their fertility to meet the growing agricultural demands of increasing population. Land utilisation programmes that ensure the stability of parcels of land that have been tempered with, for project related activities must be attempted. Reclamation of these areas through afforestation and other appropriate measures should be undertaken on scientific principles. Growth of grass should be promoted wherever possible. This should be followed with grassland management practices for fodder production to take some pressure off the residual grazing lands. The management strategies will have to be carefully planned to ensure conformity with the statutory requirements of the Civil Aviation Authority in the areas in the vicinity of the aerodrome.

(ii) The magnitude of problems regarding proper management and development of forest in the State is fairly high even in a pre project environment on account of several degradational trends that have affected the productivity of these forests. Construction of roads, urbanisation, land slides and developmental works further compound the problems of lowered productivity which can also be associated with topographic, climatic and landscape features. Hence afforestation must be geared up with strong administrative and technical support. This could be achieved by consultative process that will help to draw upon the experience and expertise of State Forest Department, Horticulture Department and Botanists & Ecologists familiar with the ecology of the project area.

(iii) Specific efforts should be made to design green belts around the project area to serve as buffer both for air and noise pollution. The height and distance of plantations from the project site will essentially have to conform to the regulations of Civil Aviation Authorities. The choice of the species will greatly depend on their ability to serve as dust, noise and atmospheric pollution filters. This might require competent agencies (Industrial Toxicological Research Centre, Lucknow, Centre for Advanced Studies in Ecology, BHU and National Environmental Engineering Research Centre, NEERI, Nagpur) to provide technical assistance for design of `green filters'.

(iv) Good engineering of roads in the region is a prerequisite for reversal of several impacts (instability, dust pollutions, oil runoff and erosion). Road rubble should not be allowed to be disposed off downslope. The shoulders on each side should be planted with short grasses to control movement of loose soil downslope.

(v) The control of both point source and non point source discharge has a great bearing on surface water quality. The project involves rerouting of smaller streams. The effect of such rerouting depends on the quality of new stream channels. Adoption of proper construction techniques and reclamation can recreate desirable aquatic conditions necessary for establishment of aquatic communities in rivers and channels away from the runway and airport complex. Source reduction measures and design of efficient garbage and sewage treatment and solid waste disposal systems should be ensured to prevent contamination of groundwater and surface runoff that will ultimately finds its way into aquatic systems. Fuel trap systems should be installed to prevent discharge of hydrocarbons into receiving waters.

(vi) Although this mitigation plan incorporates specific ameliorative measures for the impacts of the proposed airport, the system of environmental counter measures for Japanese airports (Fig. 14) can serve as a guide for building additional and relevant countermeasures for mitigating the impacts.

The complexities of environmental management are vast and the design and implementation of checks and balances for economic-cum-environmental planning will never be easy yet these must be attempted in all earnestness for continued availability of finite resources to sustain future development endeavours. Well developed procedures for environmental monitoring and auditing ultimately determine the success of mitigation options.

The Digital Terrain Model (DTM) of the proposed site provides a three dimensional view of the project area (Fig. 15). It is evident that the site selection of the proposed project has been well conceived and has been done taking into considerations, the limitations that were imposed by the undulations in the topography of the area and the hilly terrain of the Mizoram State. With foresight of environmental problems, careful planning and a commitment to ensure mitigation of the perceived impacts, this project can go a long way in ensuring the economic development of the State as well in meeting the cherished needs of needs of the people.