National Centre for Biological Sciences - Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (NCBS-TIFR) signed Memorandums of Understanding (MOUs) with Research and Training Organisation of Ministry of Environment, Forests, and Climate Change (MoEFCC), and a host of other organisations, on August 24 as a step towards building a partnership forest education, research and conservation.
Indian Council of Forestry Research and Education (ICFRE), Indira Gandhi National Forest Academy (IGNFA), Central Academy for State Forestry Service (CASFS), Institute of Forest Genetics and Tree Breeding (IFGTB), and Forest Survey of India (FSI), are the other organisations that are a part of the collaborative effort.
Through these MoUs, the institutes intend to take a multidisciplinary approach towards education, research, and training in the field of forest genomics and the study of ecosystem to ensure conservation.
Dr. Jayaram Chengalur, Director of TIFR, Mumbai, emphasised the importance of a collaborative approach, noting that each institute brings its own set of unique and complementary skills to provide solutions to complex problems of conservation in India. “It is particularly important today, in this new era, with challenges of biodiversity, the ecosystem coming under stress, as well as stress due to climate change,” Mr. Chengalur said.
One of the main objectives of the MoUs is to take practical measures to conserve different species of trees.
Bharat Jyothi, Director, IGNFA insisted on adhering to the vision of the MoUs so that they can create positive policy changes towards conservation and eventually establish the same collaborative foundation on a global level. “In India, we need to reinvent our own knowledge systems in the scientific field, and become more connected globally,” he said.
