A seminar on issues and challenges in reorienting silviculture was organised by the Silviculture and Forest Management Division of the Forest Research Institute here on Thursday.
Expressing her views on the occasion, the FRI director Savita emphasised on the need for reorienting the issues and challenges thrown by climate change and shift of focus from production forestry to conservation forestry. She highlighted the low productivity of forests in India as compared to forests in other parts of the world and the dependency of most of the people on the forest directly and indirectly.
Addressing the gathering in the seminar, the Indian Council of Forestry Research and Education (ICFRE) deputy director general (Research) SD Sharma highlighted various issues related to forest management.
He spoke about the status of export and import of timber, degradation of forests, decreasing productivity of the forests, problems related to forest fires, role of forest policies and Acts, skill development for tribal people and human-animal conflicts.
The issues discussed in the seminar included impact of climate change on phenology of plants and reorientation silviculture activities, water harvesting for ground water recharge, managing the forests for water, biodiversity conservation, public participation in forest management, livelihood issues, development of nurseries and plantation techniques for the rare and endangered species (tree and shrubs) which are useful for the community and lesser known to forest departments, agro-forestry research, new perspectives in silviculture research and demand and supply situation of raw materials for wood based industries.
Earlier, the head of the institute’s Silviculture and Forest Management division, Arti Chaudhary said that the focus of the seminar was on current challenges in silviculture and forest management in the country. She also spoke of the past achievements of the division in silviculture like development of seed and nursery techniques for various forestry species and regeneration of forests among others.
The participants from Punjab, Haryana and Uttarakhand Forest Departments, National Institute of Hydrology, Roorkee, WIMCO, Century Pulp and Paper limited, Lalkuan and representative from Bagwan Gram Udyog Samiti, Dehradun were invited in the seminar for discussions on the current challenges and issues of silviculture. All heads of divisions of FRI, senior scientists and officers also attended the seminar.
