The Integrated Forest Management Toolbox (IFMT) is a forest management planning tool, developed to assist officers in India’s state forest departments to develop working plans in accordance to the NWPC 2014. It aims to bridge the knowledge gap and addresses the requirements of NWPC by supporting forest officials with required data and tools for planning and preparation of working plans for sustainable management of forest resources.
IFMT consists of a suite of tools for collecting/ collating geo-spatial and ground level data and identifying potential forest management activities based on flow of ecosystem services. The tools were developed to meet the requirements of NWPC.
Tools of IFMT
- Forest Resources Observatory (FRO) - A repository of data from publicly available open data sources that can provide certain mandatory spatial layers as required by NWPC.
- Forest Data Kit (FDK) - A mobile android application that provides a digital platform for collection of field data. The Forest Data Kit has been customised for each division by adding lists of local floral species and administrative units. Primary ecological data from plots and socio-economic data from forest fringe villages is collected through this customised tool and analysed along with the secondary data from the India Observatory (Data Platform).
- Composite Landscape Assessment and Restoration Tool (CLART) - An android application that brings together publicly available information onto a mobile device and enables identification, planning and designing of soil and water conservation measures, based on recharge potentiality, land use land cover and slope of an area.
- Species Distribution Model (SDM) – Tool for planning re-vegetation working circle and Non-Timber Forest Produce (NTFP) working circle as per the local agro-climatic and edaphic factors. It assists in finding areas suitable for specified plant species and locating biodiversity hot-spots for conservation working circles.
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