Commemoration of Committed Endeavours

Abstract

Long before the applications of Science and Technology for conservation of biodiversity and sustainable development became a recognized field of human endeavour, there have been attempts by individuals and institutions who had the commitment and wisdom to begin the effort. The authors have chosen historical incidents tracing the rudiments of the work of Emperor Ashoka, to the Bishnois of Rajasthan, John Muir, a Scottish-born American in USA, Richard St. Barbe Baker and Wangari Maathai in Africa. People such as Chico Mendes lost their life in preventing the destruction of great Amazonian forest and N. I. Vavilov, a Russian geneticist who foresaw the value of collecting large samples of seeds of cultivated plants in seed banks, much against the then prevalent communist doctrine, not believing in the importance of inheritance. The Chipko movement in Garhwal Himalaya started by Gaura devi and other womenfolk supported by Chandi Prasad Bhat and Sunderlal Bahuguna has been briefly traced. References are also made to the work of Jim Corbett and Salim Ali for the conservation of tigers and birds respectively and recounting the enormous movement to save Silent Valley representing tropical evergreen forest in Kerala from being utilized for generating a very small amount of power. The decision taken by Government of India to refuse Vedanta Resources from utilizing the Niyamgiri Hills in Orissa for bauxite mining which is considered as an abode of their Niyamraja, worshipped by the Dongaria Kondh tribe consisting of 8,000 people has been hailed by the Indian people as just. Finally attention is drawn to Prof. A. Abraham’s efforts to develop a Tropical Botanical Garden and Research Institute in Kerala for collection, conservation and sustainable utilization of 800 medicinal plants, orchids, bamboos and other useful tropical plants. A brief note on the intense efforts made by K. S. Manilal in bringing out English and Malayalam Editions of Hortus Malabaricus compiled by Van Rheede in 12 volumes in old Latin between 1678 and 1693 and in publishing the Flora of Silent Valley has been included.