Guest Speaker : Dr. Kamaljit Bawa

Time : 10:45 a.m., Sunday, May 28
Venue : 6-120, MIT

About the talk

India is losing its biological wealth at a rapid rate. The country faces a real challenge in reconciling the need for the betterment of the human condition on the one hand and the need to conserve its vanishing natural resources on the other. This challenge can be met by undertaking innovative approaches to mange natural resources, and by reforming institutions. The Ashoka Trust for Research In Ecology and the Environment (ATREE) is working with rural communities in forested areas to develop new approaches and new institutions to manage and conserve forests. The talk will cover these approaches and institutions.

About Dr.Bawa

Prof. Kamaljit Bawa, is a distinguished professor in the dept. of Biology, at the University of Massachusetts, Boston. His main areas of research are Tropical Forest Ecology, Genetics, and Conservation. He has authored several papers and books on Ecology of tropical forests, Deforestation, Reproductive Biology of Tropical Forest trees and plants etc. One of the projects he has worked on is " An Enterprise Based Approach to Biodiversity Conservation with Local Community Involvement", in collaboration with Vivekananda Girijana Kalyana Kendra, BR Hills, where he studied the socio-economic and ecological viability of Non-Timber Forest Produce (NTFP). Prof. Bawa has also founded a non profit organziation ATREE (Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and Environment).

For more information, please visit his webpage.