India and Japan Hold 7th Joint Working Group Meeting on Forests in Bengaluru

The 7th meeting of the India-Japan Joint Working Group (JWG) on cooperation in the field of forests took place in Bengaluru on September 8, 2026. The bilateral session brought together high-level delegations, with the Indian side led by Ramesh Kumar Pandey, Additional Director General of Forests at the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, and the Japanese delegation led by Shimizu Kotaro, Deputy Director General of the Forestry Agency under Japan's Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries. The meeting evaluated progress made under the Memorandum of Cooperation signed between the two nations in 2015. Discussions focused on three strategic cooperation areas: Trees Outside Forests (TOFs), Forest Genetics, and Forest Stack technology. Under the TOF framework, both sides shared technical insights on resource mapping, management, and genetic improvement of tree species grown outside traditional forest boundaries. The Forest Genetics agenda addressed germplasm conservation and tree breeding technologies, while Forest Stack discussions centered on geospatial monitoring and digital inventory management. The bilateral meeting concluded with the formal endorsement of the 2027–2031 Forestry Roadmap, reaffirming commitments to deepen joint research, capacity building, and biodiversity conservation. The delegations also visited the Institute of Wood Science and Technology in Bengaluru to observe local research capabilities.