Author: B. D. Joshi

MADAN LAL DEWAN (Ph. D. Cornell), a Soil Scientist and Watershed Management Expert, started work on soil conservation in the Damodar Valley during 1949-52. He had a distinguished career as an International Civil Servant with the FAO for over three decades (1953-83). He worked as chief of the FAO Regional Bureau for Asia and the Pacific, serving Asian countries, including India. He had FAO assignments in Iran and Bulgaria and was at FAO Headquarters in Rome for 14 years. Over the past 18 years and particularly for the past ten years after his retirement, he has travelled widely and written extensively about the Himalayas. He was a member of the National Land Use and Conservation Board of Government of India during 1984-87. He has also been Chairman, Vice-Chairman or Member of several Non-Government Organization working in and out on the Himalayas. He is also working for the economic development of the Himalayan communities and has set up his base in Ranichauri near the Hill Campus of G.B. Pant Agriculture University. Dr. Dewan is a Resource Person to the Hill Campus and Adviser for the Himalayan Programmes of Trees for Life, a charitable voluntary organization. PROF. B.D. JOSHI obtained his M.Sc. and Ph. D. degrees from Lucknow University and then joined Hindu College, Moradabad (1973) as lecturer; shifted to Kumaun University campus Almora (July, 1978) and then joined the Gurukula Kangri Vishwavidyalaya, Hardwar, -as Reader and Head Department of Zoology, (1982). He became Professor in 1985, heading the Department of Zoology and Microbiology at Gurukula. Besides, working on various aspects of Mountain Ecology, with special reference to the Himalayan environment. Prof. Joshi is member of twelve national and international scientific bodies, editorial member of more than six research journals, founder President of the Indian Academy of Environmental Sciences, Hardwar, founder Vice-President of the Indian Association of Haematologists, and founder and Editor in chief of Himalayan Journal of Environment and Zoology. He has completed seven research projects sponsored by UPCST, CSIR, UGC, CGA and DO En. At present, he is engaged in completing a major eco-development research project on river Bhagirathi sponsored by the Ministry of Environment and Forests, Government of India.