The Indian Institute of Technology Jodhpur and the Zoological Survey of India will collaborate to collect, study, and share data on faunal specimens for scientific purposes.

The agreement will fund cooperative fieldwork missions, the identification of species in the Thar ecoregion, and the development of climate change models based on ecosystem phenomics. The organisation will also assist in the implementation of specific joint research initiatives and capacity-building workshops in the fields of Systematic Zoology and protection in order to secure the long-term protection of animal genetic resources in the Thar region.

While signing the MoU, Professor Santanu Chaudhury, Director of IIT Jodhpur, stated, "This collaboration will lead to the growth of science in a multidisciplinary sense across the country using AI and Data Science as well as various aspects of engineering and technology which is going on to enhance the efforts in terms of conservation of flora and fauna of the country."

"It's the commitment of IIT Jodhpur to work towards bringing in new technologies and innovations in the space of conservation biology and trying to identify and build up this kind of repository not only in physical space but also in digital space as a huge implication and positive consequences for scientific development," Chaudhury adds.

ZSI is the largest repository of Fauna in the entire South and Southeast Asia region. With more than 100,000 species of animals known to occur in India, it has brought to the knowledge of scientific communities many new and endemic species. ZSI is the premier institution on animal taxonomy in India under the Ministry of Environment, Forests & Climate Change of the Government of India.