ATREE
Offices |
Bangalore
Office
659 5th A Main, Hebbal
Bangalore 560 024
Tel: 080-2353 3942,
2353 0069
Fax: 080-2353 0070 |
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Delhi
Office
B-80 Shivalik
New Delhi 110 017
Tel/Fax: 011-266 93299
266 93190 |
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Eastern
Himalayas Office
Bungalow No.2, Bhujiapani
Bagdogra 734 422
Tel/Fax:0353-255 1110
255 0093 |
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North
East Office
C/o. “Evergreen” Samanway Path (Survey)
P.O. Belatola
Guwahati – 781 028
Assam.
Tel.: 0361-226 6087 |
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Advisory
Board |
Dr.
R.A. Mashelkar
Dr. Anil K. Gupta
Dr. Peter Raven
Dr. Suri Sehgal
Dr. Jagmohan Maini
Dr. Jairam Ramesh |
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Executive
Board |
Dr.
K.S. Bawa
Dr. K.N. Ganeshaiah Dr. R. UmaShaanker
Dr. S. N. Rai
Dr. R. Shailaja
Mr. Darshan Shankar
Ms. Rohini Nilekani
Dr. Gladwin Joseph
(ex-officio) |
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Executive
Staff |
Dr.
Gladwin Joseph
Dr. Bibhab Talukdar
Mr. Manoj Dabas
Mr. Suman Rai |
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DR.
T.N. KHOSHOO MEMORIAL AWARD |
ATREE
awarded this year’s Dr. T. N. Khoshoo Memorial Award
to Ms Nafisa Barot and Dr. Anil Prakash Joshi for their contribution
towards the conservation and sustainable use of natural resources. |
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Dr.
K. S. Bawa, Dr Montek Singh Ahluwalia, Dr. Sam Pitroda, ,
Dr Prodito Ghosh on the dais. (left to right) |
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Ms.
Nafisa is involved in a number of water management activities
such as drought proofing, rain-water harvesting and desiltation.
Her organization, ‘Utthan’ in Gujarat, participates
in women credit groups, community health programmes, afforestation
and education. |
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Dr.
Nafisa Barot. |
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Dr.
Anil P. Joshi helps to promote sustainable livelihoods in
the Himalayas. He has been instrumental in developing participatory
approaches to natural resource conservation and is credited
with implementing a variety of ingenious schemes related to
water supply, economical lighting, agriculture, employment
opportunities, earthquake-resistant housing and alternative
uses of weeds. Dr. Joshi and his colleagues founded the Himalayan
Environmental Studies and Conservation Organisation (HESCO)
to address the basic needs of rural communities and to help
them conserve natural resources. |
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Dr.
R. Umashaankar, Dr. Montek Singh Ahluwalia and Dr. Anil Joshi
at the award ceremony. |
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The
Khoshoo Memorial Endowment Fund was set up by ATREE to honour
the memory of the great scientist and visionary Dr. T.N. Khoshoo,
former Secretary, Ministry of Environment and Forests. |
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This
event was sponsored by ATREE, the Sehgal Family Foundation
and the Ford Foundation, New Delhi, all of whom have contributed
to the Dr. Khoshoo Memorial Endowment Fund. |
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AN
INTERACTIVE MEETING WITH THE KARNATAKA FOREST DEPARTMENT |
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D.
K. N. Ganeshaiah, Dr. P. J. Dilipkumar, Dr. K. Prabhakara
Setty, Dr. S. N. Rai,
Dr. R. Uma Shaankar, Dr. Gladwin Joseph at the book release.
(left to right) |
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Under
the chairmanship of the Principal Chief Conservator of Forests,
Govt. of Karnataka, Dr. S. N. Rai, an interaction meeting
was organized to discuss the operational and technical details
of a recent project on “Mapping and Quantitative Assessment
of Geographic Distribution and the Population Status of Plant
Resources of Western Ghats”, funded by the Department
of Biotechnology, New Delhi. The meeting held at Aranya Bhavan,
Malleshwaram, Bangalore on December 23, 2004 was jointly organized
by the Karnataka Forest Department (KFD), ATREE, and the University
of Agricultural Sciences (UAS), Bangalore. |
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The
Chief Guest, Dr. Prabhakara Shetty, Director - Research (UAS),
inaugurated the meeting by releasing the Book and CD ROM on
“Bamboos and Rattans of the Western Ghats”. He
appreciated the efforts of the authors and ATREE and applauded
ATREE’s initiatives in the area of biodiversity informatics
and biodiversity conservation. Dr. R. Uma Shaanker, of UAS
and ATREE, introduced the contents of the book to the audience. |
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The
Project Coordinator, Dr. K. N. Ganeshaiah, of UAS and ATREE,
Bangalore five principal investigators from other states viz.,
Kerala, Maharashtra and Karnataka, four officials from the
department of forests of different states and members of the
plant database group at ATREE participated in the meeting.
The objectives of the meeting were to: |
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Comprehensively discuss issues and methodologies for easy
implementation of the project.
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Seek inputs from the concerned forest officials involved
in forest conservation in the Western Ghats region.
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Encourage
the active support of all participants to accomplish the
goals of the project.
---
Dr. G.S. Mohan |
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ATREE’S
SUPPORT FOR TSUNAMI VICTIMS |
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Volunteers
at ATREE collected contributions from employees and others,
which were sent to Tsunami hit areas through the Environmental
Services Group (ESG) network. Contributions in the form
of clothes; food items; and medicines for adults and children,
tents, blankets, utensils and plastic bottles were collected.
These were first checked for quality and practical useworthiness
then packed and labeled in English and in Tamil. These efforts
were well appreciated by the volunteers at ESG- particularly
because the packages were well sorted out and labeled. A
second consignment, sent a little later, included new utensils
exchanged for discarded clothes. Monetary collections by
ATREE employees were matched by the ATREE Executive Board
amounting to a total of Rs. 1.16 lakhs. This money will
be used in a targeted fashion towards the rehabilitation
of ravaged livelihoods.
----
Vishakha Das
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NEW
HONORARY FELLOW |
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Mr.
Romulus Earl Whitaker, an eminent wildlife specialist
and a renowned wildlife film maker, has been nominated as
an Honorary Senior Fellow at ATREE. He is a recipient of prestigious
awards like the Award for Conservation Merit, World Wide fund
for Nature (International), Rolex Award for Enterprise (Switzerland),
Order of the Golden Ark (Netherlands), Peter Scott Award (U.K),
Ashoka Foundation Fellowship (India/USA), Emmy Award (News
& Documentaries) for Outstanding Program Achievement.
He also has a host of books, critical consultancy reports,
chapters, publications to his credit. |
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NEW
STAFF |
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Mr. Aditya Singh has joined
the Ecoinformatics Center at ATREE as Senior Research Associate
(GIS & RS). Aditya has his academic grounding in Architecture
and Planning from CEPT, Ahmedabad and his training from IIRS,
Dehradun in Applications of Geoinformatics in Disaster Management
and Forestry and Ecology.
Ms.
Bansuri Taneja has joined ATREE as a Programme Officer
in the Conservation and Livelihoods Program. She brings a
wealth of experience gained at institutions such as the International
Institute of Environment and Development, National Biodiversity
Strategy and Action Plan, Kalpavriksh and the Indian Institute
of Public Administration. She obtained her Masters in Geography
from Rutgers University, and a certificate in Biological Sciences
from Birkbeck College, London. |
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PRESENTATIONS
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Priyadarsanan Dharma Rajan
attended the Joint International Workshop on Biodiversity
Informatics: an INDO-US. Initiative (7-9 December 2004) at
National Chemical Laboratory, Pune and;
* Presented a paper titled ‘Pipilika;
An identification and information system for the ant fauna
of south India’ by Merry Zacharias and Priyadarsanan
Dharma Rajan
* Raporteured a session on: Digitizing
Biological Collections
Priyadarsanan
Dharma Rajan attended the annual meeting of the Association
for Angiosperm Taxonomy and Seminar on Recent trends in Plant
Taxonomy' (28-31, Dec.2004) and presented a paper on the ‘Red
list for habitats and Green lists for species: a top down
strategy for conserving the lesser known.’
Priyadarsanan
Dharma Rajan attended the Animal Taxonomy workshop (13-14
Jan 2005) at Sacred Heart College, Ernakulam.and presented
two papers:
* Taxonomy for the twenty-first century: The challenges and
obstacles for Indian taxonomists
* Pipilika: An identification and information system for the
ant fauna of South India by Merry Zacharias and Priyadarsanan
Dharma Rajan.
Priyadarsanan
Dharma Rajan attended the National Symposium on ‘Biodiversity
and insect pest management' (3-4 February) at Entomology
Research Institute, Loyola College, Chennai, and delivered
a speech on the importance of farm- biodiversity in pest control.
Sinu,
P.A presented a paper at the 29th Conference of Ethological
Society of India, held at Bangalore University on 23-24 February,
2005 on ‘Forging strategies for Cicindela whithilli
and Cicindela flavomaculata in rice paddy agro-ecosystems’
by Sinu, P.A., Nasser, M., and Priyadarsanan Dharma Rajan
(2005).
Sinu, P.A, also rapporteured for the Scientific session: Learning
and Communication, at the same conference
Sinu
P.A., presented a paper at the National Symposium on Biodiversity
and Insect Pest Management held on 3-4 February at Entomology
Research Institute, Loyola College, Chennai, on ‘Feeding
ecology of two tiger beetle species in rice paddy agro-ecosystems
in central Western Ghats’ with a pilot study on
their bio-control potentials by Sinu, P.A., Nasser, M., and
Priyadarsanan Dharma Rajan (2005).
Sinu,
P.A., presented a paper at the Animal Taxonomy Workshop
held on 13-14 Jan 2005 at Sacred Heart College, Ernakulam
on ‘SINSORTER, a novel method to sort all arthropod
samples from pitfall traps.
Shanker,
K. was invited to give a talk on: Olive Ridley Turtles (Lepidochelys
Olivacea) in Orissa, India: A review of status and conservation
at the 25th annual symposium on sea turtle biology and conservation,
Savannah, Georgia, USA, January 19-21, 2005.
Sridhar,
A., Tripathy , B. & Shanker, K. presented a paper at the
same conference on ‘Turtle conservation and livelihoods:
Experiences with conflict resolution on the Orissa coast.
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PUBLICATIONS |
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Uma Shaanker R, Ganeshaiah K N, Srinivasan
K., Ramanatha Rao V. and Hong, L.T. (2004). ‘Bamboo
and Rattans of the Western Ghats: Population biology, Socio-economics
and Conservation strategies’, ATREE, IPGRI and
UAS, Bangalore.
Uma
Shaanker R, Ganeshaiah K N, Nageswara Rao M and Aravind N
A (2004). ‘Ecological consequences of forest use-from
genes to ecosystem: A case study at the Biligiri Ranganswamy
Temple Wildlife Sanctuary, south India’, Conservation
and Society, 2: 347-364.
Uma
Shaanker R, Ganeshaiah K N, Smitha Krishnan, Ramya R, Meera
C, Aravind N A, Arvind Kumar, Dinesh Rao, Vanaraj G, Ramachandra
J, Remi Gauthier, Jaboury Ghazoul, Nigel Poole and Chinnappa
Reddy B V (2004). ‘Livelihood gains and ecological costs
of non timber forest product dependence: Assessing the roles
of dependence, ecological knowledge and market structure in
three contrasting human and ecological settings in south India’,
Environmental Conservation, 31: 242–253.
Aravind
N A, Manjunath J, Dinesh Rao, Ganeshaiah K N, Uma Shaanker
R and Vanaraj G (2005). ‘Are Red Listed species threatened?
- A comparative analysis of Red Listed and Non-Red Listed
plant species in the Western Ghats, India’. Current
Science, 88: 258-265.
Barve
N, Kiran M C, Vanaraj G, Aravind N A, Dinesh Rao, Uma Shaanker
R, Ganeshaiah K N and Poulsen J G (2005). ‘Measuring
and mapping threats to a wildlife sanctuary in south India’.
Conservation Biology, 19: 122-130.
Tambat
B, Rajanikanth G, Ravikanth G, Uma Shaanker R, Ganeshaiah
K N and Kushalappa C G (2005). ‘Seedling mortality in
two vulnerable tree species in the sacred groves of Western
Ghats, south India’. Current Science, 88: 350-352.
Hiremath
A J (ed.) 2004. Special Section on ‘Non-timber forest
products’. Conservation and Society. http://www.conservationandsociety.org/vol-2-2-04.html
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VISITS |
Dr.
Kartik Shaker visited the satellite telemetry of leatherback
turtles in West Papua, Indonesia with WWF Indonesia and National
Marine Fisheries Service, USA. |
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RECOGNITIONS |
Dr.
Kartik Shanker, Board of Directors, International Sea Turtle
Society, 2006 – 2010
Elachertus
sinui Nar. is a new species of parasitic wasp named after
Sinu, P.A by Prof. Dr. T.C. Narendran, University of Calicut.
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GRANTS
RECEIVED |
Kamaljit S. Bawa, Jagdish Krishnaswamy,
Mohammad Irfan Ullah, Arundhati Das. ‘To support specific
Indo-US bilateral activities in the Eco-informatics Centre
at ATREE, Bangalore’. A grant from Indo-US Science and
Technology Forum.
Gladwin
Joseph, D. Joseph Bagayaraj, and Ms. Ramamani Y. S. ‘Restoring
forest-fringe areas along the Western Ghats using appropriate
models of diversity-rich agroforestry’ A grant from
Department of Biotechnology, Govt. of India.
Bhaskar
Sinha, Manoj Dabas and Kamaljit S Bawa. ‘Sustaining
critical natural resources through enhancement of agricultural
productivity’. A grant from Department of Science and
Technology, Govt. of India.
Soubadra
Devy. ‘Impact of forest degradation on pollination and
dispersal of tree species in the wet evergreen forests of
Western Ghats’ A grant from Department of Science and
Technology's Young Scientists' Progam.
Ankila Hiremath. ‘Invasive species in Indian Dry tropical
forests: Experiments in restoring native biodiversity’.
A grant from Department of Science and Technology's Young
Scientists' Progamme.
Ravikanth
G. ‘Measuring the extent of and studying the genetic
basis of, outbreeding depression in critically endangered
tree species: Implications for conservation’. A grant
from Department of Science and Technology, Govt. of India.
Chaithra
G. N. ‘How good are sacred grove forests in maintaining
the population genetic diversity of critically endangered
and economically important tree species in the Western Ghats,
India?.’ A grant from International Foundation for Science
(IFS). |
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ATREE
RETREAT 2005 – STRATEGIC MEET ON ORGANISATIONAL STRUCTURE,
25-26 JANUARY 2005, BANGALORE |
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Retreat
2005 focused on how best to strengthen ATREE’s organisational
and management structures. ATREE is committed to structures
that promote ownership, responsibility, transparency and that
ensure accountability. In addition, we at ATREE firmly believe
that structures should also promote interdisciplinarity, facilitate
cooperation across regions, promote individual initiative,
should be simple to understand and implement, and be scalable
to enable opportunity for the growth of the organisation.
The two days of rich and often intense discussions were facilitated
by Mr. Gopakumar Menon who heads a corporate training company
called Navgati, and runs a wildlife conservation organization
called Nityata Foundation and is an honorary Fellow at ATREE.
Manoj Dabas kept us entertained in the evening with his endless
repertoire of jokes. At the end of the eventful two days,
Dr. Bawa concluded with the assurance of his committment to
a bottoms-up approach towards evolving the best governance
structures for ATREE. |
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