A Memorandum of Understanding was signed betweenMinistry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change(MoEFCC) and the University of British Columbia (UBC), Canada for next 10 years in the national capital. As a result, the ministry and university will explore, opportunities for future collaborations in the field of forestry science through their respective organisations. On the Indian side, the organisations will include various institutions based in Dehradun.
The MoU was signed by the Forests director generalSiddhanta Das and vice provost of UBC, Murali Chandrashekaran.
The primary concerns of the MoEFCC are implementation of policies and programmes relating to conservation of the country's natural resources including its lakes and rivers, its biodiversity, forests and wildlife, ensuring the welfare of animals, and the prevention and abatement of pollution. While implementing these policies and programmes, the Ministry is guided by the principle of sustainable development and enhancement of human well-being.
The minister and the university shall explore, opportunities for future collaborations in the field of forestry science through their respective organisations namely Indian Council of Forestry Research and Education (ICFRE), Wildlife Institute of India (WII), Forest Survey of India (FSI), Indira Gandhi National Forest Academy (IGNFA) and Directorate of Forest Education, Dehradun, Uttarakhand and University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada. This will help in exchange of students, researchers and faculty, developing research projects, livelihood opportunities and augment income of the forest based communities and also assist the industries to optimise the utilisation of forest based resources with access of technology to different stakeholders by the respective organisations.
The main areas of collaboration listed in the MoU include collaborative research on wood sciences, forest resource management, adaptation and mitigation to climate change, forest genetics and breeding, wildlife, ecology, remote sensing, insect and disease pests, extension, conservation of flora and fauna, biotechnology, bio-energy and bio-economy. Exchange of students/researchers, faculty members and post-doctoral fellows through internship and other scholarship opportunities will also be facilitated under the MoU. Further, it will also enable capacity building on data collection and analysis of permanent observational sample plots under forest inventory for growth, stand structure, biodiversity and climate change parameters. Training and exposure on developing suitable protocols for linkage of remote sensing and field inventory data along with arranging joint conferences, seminars, workshops and exhibitions will also be facilitated under the MoU. It should be mentioned here that the University of British Columbia is a global centre for research and teaching, consistently ranked among one of the best universities in the world.