There is need to address the problems of tribal land and livelihood issues, said the Indian Council of Forestry Research and Education (ICFRE) director general VK Bahuguna while speaking at the start of the two-day fourteenth annual meeting of the Research Policy Committee.
Eminent Foresters, scientists, representatives of forest based industries, prominent NGOs working in the field of forestry, representative of farmers, local bodies and Universities along with internal members consisting of Directors of ICFRE Institutes, Deputy Director Generals forms the core committee of Research Policy.
The council DG emphasised on the need of address the problems of tribal land and livelihood issues. He also said that the ICFRE will work on global level problems of biodiversity and climate change and proper documentation of the data while adding that linkages are to be established with industries. A book “Atlas of Wood Decaying Fungi of Central India” was released .
This book authored by CK Tiwari and colleagues, published by Tropical Forest Research Institute, Jabalpur (MP) is a comprehensive document enlisting 191 species of fungi with colourful illustrations of their fruiting bodies as well as microscopic taxonomic details taken from the field and critically examined in the laboratory, respectively. These details are handy in identification of specific wood decaying fungi in four states - Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Odisha and Maharashtra.
Research on advance areas like nanotechnology which can enhance the composite wood properties, enhance faster drug delivery and help absorption of nano-particles by species from mined and degraded sites will also be researched upon.The ICFRE has identified four research thrust areas for research steered by four national projects.
Directors and group coordinators of Forest Research Institute, Dehradun, Himalayan Research Institute, Shimla, Tropical Forest Research Institute, Jabalpur, Arid Forest Research Institute, Jodhpur, Rain Forest Research Institute Jorhat, Institute of Wood Science and Technology, Bangalore, Institute of Forest Genetics and Tree Breeding Coimbatore, Institute of Forest Productivity, Ranchi and Institute of Forest Biodiversity, Hyderabad participated in the discussions.