Indian Council of Forestry Research and Education

The Indian Council of Forestry Research and Education (ICFRE) is an autonomous organisation or governmental agency under the MoEFCC, Government of India. Headquartered in Dehradun, its functions are to conduct forestry research; transfer the technologies developed to the states of India and other user agencies; and to impart forestry education. The council has 9 research institutes and 4 advanced centres to cater to the research needs of different bio-geographical regions. These are located at Dehradun, Shimla, Ranchi, Jorhat, Jabalpur, Jodhpur, Bengaluru, Coimbatore, Prayagraj, Chhindwara, Aizawl, Hyderabad and Agartala.

History
ICFRE is the largest organisation responsible for forestry research in India. ICFRE was created in 1986, under the Central Ministry of Environment and Forests (Indians), to direct and manage research and education in forestry sector in India. ICFRE is headed by a Director General with headquarters at Dehradun. ICFRE became an autonomous council under the Ministry in 1991.

Mandate
The mandate of the ICFRE is to organise, direct and manage research and education in the forestry sector, including in cooperation with FORTIP (UNDP /FAO Regional Forest Tree Improvement Project), UNDP and World Bank on economically important species. ICFRE established a National Bureau of Forest Genetic Resources (NBFGR)

Research perspective

 * Conservation, protection, regeneration, rehabilitation and sustainable development of natural forest ecosystems.
 * Revegetation of barren, waste, marginal and mined lands.
 * Research on tree improvement.
 * Enhancing productivity of wood and non-wood forest produce per unit of area per unit time by application of scientific and technological methods.
 * Research on improved utilisation, recovery and processing of forest produce for value addition and employment generation.
 * Ecological rehabilitation of all fragile ecosystems, such as mountains, mangroves, deserts etc.
 * Socio-economic and policy research for developing strategies towards attracting people's participation in forest management.