A week-long training for in-service State Forest Service officers from across the country on legal Issues in Forestry (lIFE) began at the Central Academy for State Forest Service (CASFoS) here on Monday. The course is aimed at raising awareness in participants about various Acts, rules, notifications, and court orders governing forests and wildlife to update their legal knowledge and acumen. A total of 16 SFS officers from Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Jammu & Kashmir, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan are attending the course.
After course director Dr Surabhi Rai welcomed the participants, APCCF,regional office Uttarakhand, Ajay Kumar spoke on the challenges faced by forest officers with regard to law. The CASFoS principal N Sonzalian also expressed his views on the occasion. The week long programme will focus on various legal issues like latest case studies of Forest Conservation Act, Forest Rights Act, wildlife forensics, Environment Protection Act, Environmental Impact Assessment and other related subjects. Academy faculty members and officials including Meera Iyer, Dr KS Jayachandran, Guru Prasad Joshi and Anupam Verma were also present on the occasion.