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The 7th meeting of the India–Japan Joint Working Group (JWG) on cooperation in forests was held in Bengaluru on 8 September 2026.
Both sides endorsed a Roadmap for 2027–2031 under the Memorandum of Cooperation signed in 2015.
Discussions centred on Trees Outside Forests, Forest Genetics and Forest Stack.
The delegations visited the Institute of Wood Science and Technology, Bengaluru, sandalwood agro-forestry sites in Mysuru (9 Sept) and Nagarhole Tiger Reserve (10 Sept).
Trees growing outside recorded forest areas — on farms, field boundaries, homesteads, roadsides and urban land. They supply timber and fuel, raise farm incomes through agroforestry, and are central to India's goal of expanding green cover beyond notified forests.
Simple Analogy: Forests are the main bank; trees outside forests are the savings kept at home.
India's nodal ministry for forest policy; led the Indian side
Japan's forest administration, under the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries
Wood-science research institute of the Indian Council of Forestry Research and Education (ICFRE); visited by the delegations
Publishes the biennial India State of Forest Report; ISFR 2023 is the 18th edition
All three venues are in southern Karnataka. Mysuru is the centre of India's sandalwood trade. Nagarhole (Rajiv Gandhi National Park) is a tiger reserve in the Kodagu–Mysuru region and part of the Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve, India's first biosphere reserve.
GS Paper III > Conservation; GS Paper II > India–Japan relations
Current Affairs > Environment / Bilateral meetings
Trees on farms, homesteads, roadsides and other non-forest land.
Conservation of tree genetic resources, tree breeding and improved planting material.
Here, the digital layer for forest inventory, stock assessment and geospatial monitoring discussed at the JWG.