Officers of the Indian Economic Services are undergoing training on forest economics at the Forest Research Institute (FRI) here. Inaugurating the training FRI director AS Rawat spoke on the history of scientific forestry and forest research in India.
He told the participants about organisational structure of Forest Research Institute and Indian Council of Forestry Research and Education. He emphasised that natural forests should be kept for providing ecosystem services and protection. Only salvage felling is allowed in natural forests in most of the forest areas.
The demand of commercial and industrial wood should be met from trees outside forest. Referring to the tangible and intangible benefits provided by forests to mankind, he said that the tangible benefits include timber, fuel wood, fodder and non wood forest products which are measurable and directly used by the people.
The intangible benefits are not directly measurable, which are realised without extracting reÂsources from the forest, and are further divided into two subcategories: ecosystem services, such as soil and water protection, biodiversity, and climate modulation; and preservation values, which refers to the value that people place on preserving forests in their present state.
Recreational or cultural uses of forests can have extractive value (such as hunting and fishing), non-extractive value (such as bird watching and hiking for reÂlaxation and spiritual renewal).
According to FRI scientists, forest economics deals more narrowly with choices about how forÂests are managed and used; how other factors of production like labour and capital are used in forest production, utilisation, and conÂservation; and what and how much forest products are produced and marketed. Forest economics applies the discipline of economics to deciÂsion making in forestry and covers the whole forest sector. To enlighten the participants on the issue lectures of subject experts from Forest Departments of Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Jharkhand and Uttarakhand, Institute of Economic Growth, New Delhi, Centre Academy for State Forest Service, Dehradun, Wildlife Institute of India and FRI will be delivering talks during the training which will conclude on February 14.