Govt inks pact with Canadian university for research on environment issues

The Centre on Wednesday collaborated with Canada's University of British Columbia (UBC) to work on various environmental issues including climate change, forest resource management and wildlife.

The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the University of British Columbia (UBC), Canada for next 10 years to explore opportunities for collaborations in the field of forestry science, an official said.

A ministry official said that the opportunities will be explored through organizations like Indian Council of Forestry Research and Education(ICFRE), Wildlife Institute of India (WII), Forest Survey of India (FSI), Indira Gandhi National Forest Academy and Directorate of Forest Education, Uttarakhand, and UBC, Canada.

"The MoU will help in exchange of students, researchers and faculty, developing research projects, livelihood opportunities and augment income of the forest based communities," the official said.

Government sources said the MoU will also assist industries to optimise the utilisation of forest based resources with access of technology to different stakeholders by the respective organisations.

Collaborative research on wood sciences, forest resource management, adaptation and mitigation to climate change are some of the areas to be explored, they said.

Both the countries will arrange joint conferences, seminars, workshops and exhibitions to take the collaboration forward, the government said.