Dr Kamaljit Bawa: The Evolution of a Conservation Biologist

Born in pre-independence India in 1939 Dr Kamaljit S. Bawa grew up in Kapurthala in Punjab, witnessing partition and inspired by the speeches of our country’s founding leaders. It was on a field project to the Northeast of India as a Masters student that opened his eyes to ‘a whole new world’ and set him on his journey in the space of conservation biology. Dr Bawa earned his PhD from Panjab University in 1967 at the age of 28, and moved to the United States to work as a post doctoral researcher in ecology. During his time here he was inspired by a number of scientists and thinkers whose work has been pathbreaking, from Dan Janzen, an evolutionary ecologist, to EO Wilson, who is credited with coining the word biodiversity, to Michael Soule, who is often referred to as the father of conservation biology. In this episode, Dr. Bawa speaks of his time spent conducting research in Costa Rica to his long career at the University of Massachusetts in Boston, to returning to India to become the Founder President of ATREE, the Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment, that was established in 1996. In this episode of Grassroots Nation, Dr. Bawa is in conversation with Hari Sridhar, a researcher affiliated to the Konrad Lorenz Institute, Austria and Archives at NCBS. Additional Reading: Synchronization of Sexual Reproduction of Trees Within the Dry Season in Central America by Daniel H. Janzen (1966) Geographical Ecology: Patterns in the Distribution of Species by Robert H. MacArthur (1984) Silent Spring by Rachel Carson (1962) ATREE’s Edible Insects for Sustainable Livelihood Program The Society for Conservation Biology War and Peace and Conservation Biology by David Ehrenfeld (2000) Archival Audio used: Raghu pati Raghav Raja ram playing on instrument Taarsehnayi. Bhagta Singh by INSTRUMENTS LOVERS CC BY 3.0 Uttarakhand, August 28 Lata and Reni (Nikon) by Anushka Meenakshi, Iswar Srikumar CC BY 3.0 Our work with the local Soliga community around BRT by ATREE