Saving the Himalayas

Contemporary Science Issues and Innovations
recorded December 22, 2015 at Belmont Media Center, Belmont MA

Maharaj K. Pandit, Ph.D., Hrdy Fellow (2015-2016), Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Studies, Harvard University; Professor and former head, Department of Environmental Studies, University of Delhi (India); Director of the Centre for Inter-Disciplinary Studies of Mountain & Hill Environment, University of Delhi; Director, the Himalaya Lab

The great Himalaya mountain range, known as the "roof of the world," affects the entire globe. Dr. Pandit has devoted a career to research on its complex ecology and the impact of increasing settlement, development, and climate change on this complex environment. In this program he explains both the urgent need for conservation in the Himalaya and the necessity of an interdisciplinary approach to studying its ecological systems. In addition to first-hand information about the situation in the Himalaya, we learn about the the Himalaya Lab's innovative research and education programs.

During his 2015-2016 Radcliffe fellowship at Harvard, Dr. Pandit will be working on his book, Life in the Himalaya, to be published by Harvard University Press.

Maharaj Pandit has been a fellow at the National University of Singapore since 2012, where he has also served as a visiting senior fellow in the University Scholars Programme and held an adjunct appointment in the Department of Geography. He was the director of the School of Environment Studies at the University of Delhi and later the head of the Department of Environmental Studies. Dr. Pandit is an elected member of the National Academy of Sciences of India.

Pandit, M.K. 2013. The Himalayas Must Be Protected. (Nature 501:283).