Chandra Prakash Kala

Chandra Prakash Kala in the middle Himalayan region of India

Chandra Prakash Kala is an Indian ecologist and professor. His research interests include alpine ecology, conservation biology, indigenous knowledge systems, ethnobotany and medicinal aromatic plants.

Early life and education

Kala was born and grew up in Sumari, a small village of Uttarakhand state in India. He studied life sciences at the Hemwati Nandan Bahuguna Garhwal University, Srinagar before completing a PhD on the ecology and conservation of the Valley of Flowers National Park at the Forest Research Institute (a deemed university), Dehradun.

Career

He has published over 170 research papers and articles and nine books including: The Valley of Flowers: Myth and Reality,[1] Medicinal Plants of Indian Trans-Himalaya,[2] Medicinal Plants of Uttarakhand,[3] and Ecology and Conservation of Valley of Flowers National Park.[4] He writes popular articles regularly in English and Hindi. His decade long studies on the Valley of Flowers National Park laid the foundation stone to declare the Valley of Flowers a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 2005.[5]

Kala has surveyed two major traditional systems of Asian therapies - Ayurveda and the traditional Tibetan medicine. He has studied various natural resource management practices evolved by various tribal communities in northwest, northeast and central India, especially in the states of Arunachal Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu-Kashmir, Uttarakhand, Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh. Besides the Valley of Flowers, he surveyed many other high altitude protected areas, including Kedarnath Wild Life Sanctuary, Great Himalayan National Park, Hemis National Park, Karakorum Wildlife Sanctuary, Changthang Wildlife Sanctuary, Kibber Wildlife Sanctuary, Pin Valley National Park and Binsar Wildlife Sanctuary.[6][7] Kala also has surveyed the Alps including the only national park of Slovenia, Triglav National Park.[8]

He has served internationally recognized institutions well known for framing and implementing policies, including the National Medicinal Plants Board, the apex body of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, of India.[9]

Kala is on the editorial and advisory board of over a dozen of national and international scientific journals, including Journal of Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine, American Journal of Plant Sciences, International Journal of Ecology, Applied Ecology and Environmental Sciences, International Journal of Forestry Research, Journal of Biodiversity and African Journal of Plant Sciences.[10][11][12][13][14]

Award and recognition

Kala has been awarded fellowships from the national and international institutions including the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development, Nepal the Ministry of Environment and Forests, the Wildlife Institute of India, and the G. B. Pant Institute of Himalayan Environment and Development - for carrying out research on the ecology and biodiversity conservation in the various national parks, wildlife sanctuaries and biosphere reserves of the Indian Himalayas.[12][15]

He has been a visiting scholar at Pennsylvania State University, in the United States and the University of Ljubljana in Slovenia.

Kala was awarded the prestigious ICFRE Award for Excellence in the Forest Conservation (Biodiversity and Ecology).[16]

Works

Collection

Short stories

  • "A Delicious Affairs"
  • "Nagrasani"
  • "The Last Wish"
  • "The Tip of the Tail"
  • "Man-eaters of Garhwal"
  • "Spurge and Snake Bite"
  • "Tapyo"
  • "My Favorite Medicine"
  • "The Prisoners of School"
  • "Riding the Best"
  • "Gaura’s Home"
  • "Aunty"
  • "A Killer in the Clouds"
  • "A Bull in the Leopard’s Monarchy"
  • "The Heavenly Leaf"
  • "The Forgotten Healers"
  • "His Confession"
  • "Seers of Pandukeshwar"
  • "Battle Between the Best"
  • "The Fragrance of Parijaat"
  • "The Childhood Friend"

Travelogues

  • "On His Wishes"
  • "The Bear’s Trail"
  • "A Non-vegetarian in the Holy Hills"
  • "A Job Hunter"
  • "My First Job"
  • "My Maiden Visit to Penn State"
  • "Botanist of Surguja"
  • "Ziro"
  • "A City of Biodiversity"
  • "A Week with Everest and Nanda Devi Summiteers"
  • "The Silence of Candolim"
  • "The Land of Many Shades"
  • "Om Mani Padme Hum"
  • "The Roof of the World"
  • "The Floating Heaven"
  • "A Vagrant and the ‘Queen of Mountains’"
  • "Hidden Gem of Europe"
  • "The Majesty of Mahasu"

Essays

  • "Taste the Himalayas"
  • "The Tremor of Tragedy"

Books

References

  1. ↑ "The Valley Of Flowers: Myth and Reality; Chandra Prakash Kala; International Book Distributors, New Delhi". indianbooks.co.in. ISBN 9788170893110. Retrieved 2014-10-05.
  2. ↑ Kala, C. P. (2003). Medicinal Plants of Indian Trans-Himalaya: focus on Tibetan use of medicinal resources. Bishen Singh Mahendra Pal Singh. ISBN 9788121101806. Retrieved 2014-10-05.
  3. ↑ "Medicinal Plants of Uttarakhand: Diversity, Livelihood and Conservation: Chandra Prakash Kala: 9788176222099: Amazon.com: Books". amazon.com. Retrieved 2014-10-05.
  4. ↑ Kala, C.P.; Rawat, G. S.; Uniyal, V. K.; Wildlife Institute of India (Dehra Dūn, India) (1998). Ecology and conservation of the Valley of Flowers National Park, Garhwal Himalaya. Wildlife Institute of India. ISBN 9788185496061. Retrieved 2014-10-05.
  5. ↑ Kala, C. P. 2005. "The Valley of Flowers- A Newly Declared World Heritage Site". Current Science, 89 (6): 919-920 http://www.iisc.ernet.in/currsci/sep252005/919.pdf
  6. ↑ "Indigenous Uses, Population Density, and Conservation of Threatened Medicinal Plants in Protected Areas of the Indian Himalayas | Gajendra Singh - Academia.edu". academia.edu. Retrieved 2014-10-05.
  7. ↑ Kala, Chandra Prakash; Kothari, Kishor Kumar (20 November 2013). "Livestock predation by common leopard in Binsar Wildlife Sanctuary, India: human–wildlife conflicts and conservation issues" (PDF). Human–Wildlife Interactions 7 (2): 325–333. Retrieved 2014-10-05.
  8. ↑ "High altitude biodiversity of the Alps and the Himalayas: ethnobotany, plant distribution and conservation perspective - Springer". link.springer.com. Retrieved 2014-10-05.
  9. ↑ "Indian Journals". indianjournals.com. Retrieved 2014-10-05.
  10. ↑ "Journal of Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine | Editorial Board". ethnobiomed.com. Retrieved 2014-10-05.
  11. ↑ "Journals, Conferences, Proceedings, Open Access Journals, SCIRP". scirp.org. Retrieved 2014-10-05.
  12. 1 2 "Chandra Prakash Kala". hindawi.com. Retrieved 2014-10-05.
  13. ↑ "Applied Ecology and Environmental Sciences". sciepub.com. Retrieved 2014-10-05.
  14. ↑ "African Journal of Plant Science". academicjournals.org. Retrieved 2014-10-05.
  15. ↑ Chandra Prakash Kala; Chandra Shekhar Silori (1 January 2013). Biodiversity, Communities and Climate Change. TERI Press. pp. 329–. ISBN 978-81-7993-442-5.
  16. ↑ Indian Council of Forestry Research and Education. http://icfre.org/UserFiles/File/annual_report-2005-06/chapter-2.pdf

External links

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