Himachal Pradesh Forest Department and the
Bharti Institute of Public Policy at the Indian School of Business signed a
five-year Memorandum of Understanding in Shimla
¨
Himachal Pradesh Forest
Department and the Bharti Institute of Public Policy (BIPP) at the Indian
School of Business (ISB) signed a five-year Memorandum of Understanding (MoU)
in Shimla on 20 August 2026.
¨
The agreement was signed
by Principal Chief Conservator of Forests Sanjay Sood and ISB-BIPP Executive
Director Prof. Ashwini Chhatre.
¨
Chief Minister Sukhvinder
Singh Sukhu was present on the occasion.
¨
The partnership focuses
on assessing the forest and pastoral economy of Himachal Pradesh.
¨
A significant share of
rural livelihoods in the state is linked to forests, grazing lands and
non-timber forest products (NTFPs).
¨
Officials estimated the
untapped economic potential of selected bio-resources at ₹22,600 crore.
¨
The joint forest
inventory involved more than 500 forest guards.
¨
The exercise generated
over 2,00,000 tree-level records.
¨
Species-tagged images,
Artificial Intelligence (AI), Machine Learning (ML) and satellite data were
used for resource identification and assessment.
¨
The exercise was linked
to resource mapping and valuation of forest-based products.
¨
The partners released a
joint report titled “Counting Green Wealth.”
¨
The report mapped seven key
species: khair, bamboo, chir pine, amla, wild mango, sal and rhododendron.
¨
The estimated value of
amla was placed at ₹8,700 crore.
¨
The estimated value of
pine needles was ₹5,500 crore.
¨
The estimated value of
wild mangoes was ₹4,800 crore.
¨
The estimated value of
sal seeds was ₹2,400 crore.
¨
The estimated value of
rhododendron flowers was ₹1,200 crore.
¨ The initiative aims to
improve forest-resource management, assess the economic value of natural
resources and strengthen forest-based rural livelihoods in Himachal Pradesh.
