There is a growing awareness to the role that natural resources, such as water, land, forests and environmental amenities, play in everyone lives. There are many competing uses for natural resources and society is challenged to manage them for improving social well-being on sustainable basis. The book entitled “Natural Resource Conservation: Emerging Issues & Future Challenges” has contains commissioned articles by experts in various fields in six major sections viz., Natural resources inventorization, Climate change effects, adaptation and mitigation strategies, Conservation technologies for livelihood and environmental security, Livelihood security and watershed management, Regional experiences and future thrust and Socio economic & policy issues. The chapters in each section are multidisciplinary and covering a wide range of information for better understanding of the diverged problems in the field of Natural Resource Management which includes Degradation of Resources, Climate Change, Bio-diversity, Remote Sensing and GIS, Soil and Water Conservation, Water Resource Development, Land Use and Land Cover, Watershed Management, Community Participation in Resource Management, Sustainable Agriculture and Food Security, Socio-Economical Aspects, Regional Experiences etc. The contributions in this document pertain to leading technologists and scientists, planners, administrator, policy makers, program implementing official etc. The each section provides up-dated information and future challenges to achieve desired goals of food and environmental security through resource conservation. The book is intended for those who interested in judicious management of natural resources for sustainable development to meet demands of the growing population.
Dr M. Madhu, presently Principal Scientist and Head, Central Soil and Water Conservation Research & Training Institute (CSWCRTI), Research Centre, Sunabeda -763 002, Koraput, Odisha, India. He completed Ph.D in Agronomy from UAS, GKVK, Bengaluru, Karnataka. He is a recipient of UAS Gold Medal during M.Sc and Ph.D, “Dr H.R. Arakeri Gold Medal” for the best Ph.D Student in Agronomy-1995, “ARIC Award for Contribution to Crop Research-1997”, IASWC Young Soil Conservationists Award-2004 and IASWC Gold Medal-2010. He is recipient of prestigious USDA Global Research Alliance (GRA) Fellowship Programme-2011 and visited USA, Nepal and Bangladesh on study and research assignments. Dr Madhu has vast experience of research, training and outreach activity related to NRM. He was leader and associated in more than 15 consultancy projects related to Integrated Watershed Management and resource conservation-cum-livelihood programmes. He has to his credit more than 100 publications including research papers in reputed national and international journals, edited books, book chapters, manuals, technical reports and bulletins, symposium /workshop/seminar papers, popular articles etc., and member of many professional bodies. He has wide work experiences in different capacities as a Senior Scientist and In-charge Head at CSWCRTI, Research Centre, Udhagamandalam, TN, India, Senior Scientist and Secretary of IASWC at CSWCRTI, Dehradun, UK, India.
Praveen Jakhar is presently Scientist (Agronomy) at CSWCRTI- Research Centre, Sunabeda, Koraput, Odisha. He did his post-graduation from Haryana Agricultural University, Hisar in Agronomy and joined Agricultural Research Service in 2007. He has worked in different institute funded and other collaborative research and consultancy projects as leader and associate. Sh Jakhar has specialization in Conservation Agronomy, Watershed Management, Technology Transfer and Human Resource Development. He has published 12 research papers in reputed national and international journals apart from being author of popular articles, bulletins and book chapters.
Dr Partha Pratim Adhikary is presently Scientist (Soil Physics and SWC) at CSWCRTI, Research Centre, Sunabeda, Koraput (Odisha). He obtained his Master’s degree in Soil Science from Chaudhury Charan Singh Haryana Agricultural University, Hisar, Haryana and Ph.D (Agricultural Physics) from Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI), New Delhi, India. He is recipient of National Scholarship, Junior and Senior Research Fellowships from ICAR and CSIR. He is also recipient of S.D. Nijhawan Gold Medal from Chaudhury Charan Singh Haryana Agricultural University, Hisar for his brilliant performance during M.Sc programme. He is also recipient of Jawahar Lal Nehru Award by ICAR. His field of research work includes development of pedotransfer functions of soil hydraulic parameters for Indian soils, modeling of groundwater pollution, GIS and Spatial Variability, watershed management and soil erodibility factor. He has more than 20 publications to his credit which include research papers in journals of national and international repute, book chapters, compendium, reports etc.
Hombe Gowda, H. C. is Scientist of Forestry at Central Soil and Water Conservation Research and Training Institute (CSWCRTI), Research Centre, Sunabeda, Odisha, India, since 2007. He is post graduated in Forestry from College of Forestry, Sirsi, Karnataka. Mr Gowda has a long standing interest on Agroforestry ecosystem dynamics, ecosystem services and watershed management. He is the author and co-author of 2 books and more than 25 scientific research articles. He is a Herpetologist by interest and saved many poisonous reptiles from human habitats. Presently he is pursuing his doctoral degree from University of Gottingen, Germany.
Dr V. N. Sharda, presently Member, Agricultural Scientist Recruitment Board has a brilliant career and vast experience of more than 34 years of research, training and extension in the fields of Hydrology, Soil and Water Conservation and Watershed Management. Dr Sharda critically evaluated the impact of planting Eucalyptus in natural grasslands, evolved the concept of conservation bench terrace system and studied hydrological behavior of mountains and ravenous watershed besides estimating the production losses in major rainfed crops of India across different states and prioritization of erosion risk areas. He is recipient of prestigious Fulbright Senior Post-Doctoral Research Fellowship of United States Information Agency in the area of environmental studies. In recognition of his outstanding contributions in the fields of Watershed Management, Water Conservation and Erosion Modeling, he has been bestowed with several awards which include the prestigious Rafi Ahmed Kidwai Award, Dr Rajendra Prasad Puruskar, Jawahar Lal Nehru Award for the best Ph. D. Thesis, Vasant Rao Naik Award of Indian Council of Agricultural Research, Intellectual’s Honour-2003 “Uttaranchal Ratan”, Bharat Singh Award of Ministry of Water Resources, Eminent Agricultural Engineer Award of IEI(I), Team Award of ICAR, a Citation by USDA-ARS, Fellowship and Recognition Award of National Academy of Agricultural Sciences, New Delhi and Fellowships of Institution of Engineers (India), Indian National Academy of Engineers, Indian Society of Agricultural Engineers and Indian Association of Soil & water Conservationists. He is a member of several national and state level committees and has more than 270 publications to his credit which include research papers in journals of national and international repute, books, book chapters, reports, etc.
Dr P. K. Mishra is presently the Director of Central Soil & Water Conservation Research and Training Institute, Dehradun. He has an exemplary academic career as a student, researcher and a professional in Soil and Water Conservation Engineering and 30 years of field and research experience in different capacities. He was trained in Professional Development Program in UK and in the field of GIS and Hydrologic Modelling in USA and Australia. He studied at University of Karlsruhe, Germany for his Ph.D work under DAAD fellowship from 1986-1988. His major contributions are in the area of drought management, documentation of ITKs relating to Soil and Water Conservation, Common Pool Resources (CPR) management, development of research watersheds, compilation of rainfed technologies and climate change research initiatives. Dr. Mishra is the recipient of a number of awards which include DAAD fellowship from Germany, best undergraduate student award by ICAR, New Delhi, Student Award from Indian Society of Agricultural Engineers (ISAE), New Delhi, Jawaharlal Nehru Award of ICAR, New Delhi for Best Ph.D work in Engineering and Technology, Fellowship Award and Dr. K.G. Tejwani Award for Management of Natural Resources of Indian Association of Soil & Water Conservationists (IASWC), Dehradun, SCSI “Gold Medal” Award by Soil Conservation Society of India (SCSI), New Delhi, Vasant Rao Naik Award 2010 of ICAR and Ground water Augmentation Award (as a team member) from MoWR, GoI. He has about 245 publications to his credit including research papers in National and International journals of repute, books, book chapters, papers in national and international proceedings, popular articles, bulletins and reports and short communications.
Dr Mohammed Khalid Khan presently working as Dean, College of Agricultural Engineering and Technology, Orissa University of Agriculture and Technology, Bhubaneswar. He did his M. Tech (Agricultural Processing and Food Engg.) from PAU, Ludhiana and Ph.D from IIT, Kharagpur. He has got more than 30 years of experience in teaching, research and extension activities in the field of Agricultural Processing and Food Engineering and Post Harvest Technology. He has worked as Research Engineer and Officer-in-Charge of AICRP on Post Harvest Technology, OUAT Bhubaneswar Centre for 14 years. Under his leadership the centre developed many post harvest equipment/machines and many innovative process technologies and received the ‘BEST CENTRE AWARD’ from ICAR and the ‘BEST TEAM AWARD’ from ISAE, New Delhi. Dr Khan is also recipient of the ‘SAMANTA CHANDRA SEKHAR AWARD for the year 2009 in recognition of his original and creative research work in the field of Engineering and Technology. He has guided 3 Ph.D, 25 M. Tech and 40 B. Tech students and published more than 60 research papers in different National and International Journals and written 15 Technical Bulletins and Books to his credit.
