Forest Research in Kerala

Dr. K.M. Bhat Memorial function and distribution of the Award for the year 2023 was held on the 3rd January 2024. Dr. C. Kunhikannan, Director, Institute of Forest Genetics and Tree Breeding, Coimbatore, was the Chief Guest of this function. On the occasion, Dr. Kunhikannan presented a Lecture titled "The Reclamation and Rehabilitation of Degraded Sites- A Myth or Reality?". In his presentation, Dr. Kunhikannan highlighted the successful restoration efforts undertaken in the mined areas of three districts in Karnataka. As a part of the ceremony, Dr. Kunhikannan distributed the Dr. K.M. Bhat Memorial Award for the best Ph.D. Thesis of 2023 to Dr. Swathi Balakrishnan, a researcher in the Biotechnology Department of KFRI.

The one-day state-level World Water Day programme on the theme "Forest for Water: Fostering Prosperity and Peace" was organised at KSCSTE-KFRI on 22nd March 2024. This programme was inaugurated by Dr. N. Krishnakumar IFS (Rtd), Former HoFF, Tamil Nadu & Chairman, Research Council, KFRI. Dr. Sumit Sen (Professor,IIT Roorkee), Dr. Pramod G. Krishnan (IFS, APCCF, Kerala Forests & Wildlife Dept) , Dr. E. J. James (Professor Emeritus & Director, Research and Consultancy, Karunya University) delivered the expert talks, which was chaired by Prof. K. P. Sudheer (EVP, KSCSTE & Director (i/c), KSCSTE-KFRI). The expert talks were followed by panel discussion on the topic ‘Forests for Water Security’ moderated by Dr. N. Krishnakumar. This programme was jointly organised by the Environmental Information, Awareness, Capacity Building and Livelihood Programme (EIACP), KSCSTE, KFRI and Govt. Engineering College, Thrissur. Sponsored by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC).

The MoU encourages student and faculty exchange, collaborative research in tropical forestry, and direct contact and cooperation between the faculty members in appropriate academic and scientific programmes. The document was signed by Dr.Syam Viswanath, Director of KFRI and Prof. Yadvinder Malhi, Director of the Oxford Centre for Tropical Forests, University of Oxford. To begin with, the Forest Ecology Department of KFRI will join the Global Ecosystems Monitoring Network (GEM) initiative led by Professor Yadvinder Malhi.

The 13th Dr. C. Chandrasekharan Memorial Award of the year 2022 was awarded to Dr. K.P. Rajkumar, Researcher at KFRI in a function held on 11th September 2023 coincided with the death anniversary of Dr. C. Chandrasekharan. The Memorial lecture titled Recent Trends in Forest Conservation and Management in Kerala was delivered by Dr. K.C. Chacko, Chief Scientist KFRI ( Rtd.); Project Director, NMPB- RCFC, KFRI, Peechi.

Beat Plastic Pollution was the theme for this Year's World Environmental Day. The world is being inundated by plastic. While the world has derived great benefits from the use of plastics, which have transformed people’s everyday lives, the negative ecological effects and adverse impact on health from their misuse and overuse cannot be overlooked. KFRI Scientists and Researchers actively participated in the World Environmental Day 2023 celebrations in different institutions across Kerala. Let us #BeatPlasticPollution and save the environment.

Rain commences, and so does the festival season for frogs. The monsoon season is crucial for frogs as it marks their breeding season and peak activity. Around 41 per cent of the world's frogs face the threat of extinction. Many challenges such as unseasonal rainfall, climate change, habitat loss and water pollution due to plastic are affecting this species survival. The Centre for Citizen Science and Biodiversity Informatics launched a participatory science programme to map the frogs of Keala. People of all ages can participate in the survey. The Monsoon Croaks BioBlitz started on June 5 and will continue till September 2, 2023.

The areas identified for collaborative research are: Developing the green campus, Man-animal conflict, Model the carbon sequestration potential of different bamboos species, Sea shore restoration, Landslide prediction and Hydrological modeling, Large-scale application of bamboo and rattan in the construction sector, Molecular modeling, Developing instruments for sustainable harvest of NTFPs, Climate change prediction and modeling using plant functional traits, Identify and quantify invasive species of plants through image processing, Understanding the behavior pattern of invasive tortoises by recording and mapping the movement of each individual, Machine learning Algorithms for gene sequencing, Identifying suitable varieties of bamboo to develop a support frame for floating solar panels, Student, faculty, scientist, and staff exchange programmes and cooperation between them in appropriate academic and scientific programmes, Exchange of scientific and technical materials and conduct of joint conferences and workshops.

Kerala Forest Research Institute (KSCSTE - KFRI) won the Best Performing Institute Awards during the "50 Years Golden Jubilee Celebration of Science & Technology in Kerala" held on 29-05-2022. In order to commemorate the 50th Anniversary of the formation of the State Committee on Science and Technology, KSCSTE is organising a series of events and activities across the State to bring out Science and technology promotion activities carried out by STEC, KSCSTE and R&D Institutions under its ambit. Chief Minister Shri. Pinarayi Vijayan presented the Award to a Team of Scientists from KFRI.

KFRI entered an MoU with the Forest College & Research Institute of Tamil Nadu Agriculture University in the presence of Hon Vice Chancellor Dr V.Geethalakshmi on 21st June 2022. This partnership will enable both the institutes to further collaborative research, training and extension activities in forestry.

The Department of Forest Ecology, KFRI, conducted Hands-on sessions on '"Tools and Techniques used to understand the climate change response of plants" for 170 students from IIT, Palakkad during January 14-15. Dr. K. A. Sreejith, Abdulla Naseef, Arunlal, Muhammed Afsal, Hrudya, Prasad, Vignesh, Arunkumar, Jithin, Baby Salini, and Arya were in the team to demonstrate various field and lab experiments to understand the response of plants to temperature rise, rise in Carbon dioxide draught, etc.

As part of the National Medicinal Plant Board (NMPB) funded project titled Participatory NTFP yielding medicinal plants resource enhancement: Capacity building through protocols for propagation, enrichment planting and management practices of ten high demanding medicinal plants of Western Ghats, Kerala, Tree Physiology Department has imparted one-day hands-on training on scientific methods for harvesting NTFP tree resources including plant production and field planting.

Plant Ecophysiology Research Workshop for college teachers was held in KFRI, Peechi during December 5-8, 2021. This was organized by the Department of Forest Ecology with the support of SERB, Dept. of Science and Technology, Govt. of India. This workshop was intended to update the knowledge on the impact of climate change and to give hands-on sessions on various tools and protocols available to measure the response of plants to changing climate. There were invited talks on various aspects of climate change and ecophysiological tools to understand the effect of climate change.

TreeWatch.net is a global network for monitoring tree hydraulics and carbon sequestration in the context of Climate Change. This is a unique tool to understand the hydraulic functioning and growth of trees. Dendrometers and sap flow sensors have the potential to detect stress from individual trees (and subsequently forests) in real-time. KFRI has become the first and only collaborative institution in this network from outside of Europe, and the study especially mangroves on the coastal areas of the State.

International Tree Mortality Network (ITMN) an initiative of International Union of Forest Research Organizations (IUFRO) to facilitate collaboration between scientists to combine expertise, knowledge and data, thereby allowing a global assessment of tree mortality and providing crucial information for forest managers and policymaking. KFRI long-term monitoring programme, especially the 10 ha. plot in tropical wet evergreen forests of Sholayar become part of this global network...

University of Leeds is having one among the largest global network of long-term monitoring tropical forests called FORESTPLOTS.NET which includes over 5.5 million tree measurements from more than 18,000 species. The permanent plots established by KFRI become part of this programme through the MoU signed. The proposed activities involve joint analysis of questions on carbon dynamics, biodiversity, and tree dynamics etc and exploration of the possibility of establishing a ForestPlots.net