A memorandum of understanding was signed through videoconferencing between Indian Council of Forestry Research and Education (ICFRE), Dehradun and the Indian Institute of Technology (Indian School of Mines), Dhanbad. The MoU was signed by the ICFRE director general AS Rawat and IIT (ISM) dean of R&D, professor Shalivahan. 

ICFRE, through its Institutes and Centres located across the country, is guiding, promoting and coordinating forestry research, extension, education at the national level. Currently ICFRE is focusing on contemporary issues of national and international importance particularly in the areas of climate change, forest productivity, biodiversity and skill development.

The MoU has been signed with the objectives of promoting cooperation in the field of mining area reclamation and forestry research, exchange of scientists and technologists and implementation of collaborative research projects.

Through this collaboration, ICFRE and IIT(ISM) will complement each other by sharing their scientific and technical expertise. This will help in identifying technological gaps, extension of forest based technologies, exchange of resources for dissemination of information to stakeholders. This will also help to promote livelihood opportunities and augment income of the forest based communities as well as assist the industries to optimise the utilisation of resources. Inter-institutional links between their respective scientific research institutes and centres will further strengthen the collaboration.

The MoU is expected to provide synergy in research and development for both the organisations and will ultimately aim to promote better economic and ecological security.

The IIT (ISM) director professor Rajiv Shekhar also attended the event and expressed his views on the occasion. All the deputy director generals, director (International Cooperation), ADG (Environment Management), ADG (External Project) and scientists from ICFRE along with deans, associate deans and faculty from IIT(ISM) were also present on the occasion.