Chandra Prakash Kala is an Indian ecologist and professor. His research interests include alpine ecology,

conservation biology Conservation biology is the study of the conservation of nature and of Earth's biodiversity with the aim of protecting species, their habitats, and ecosystems from excessive rates of extinction and the erosion of biotic interactions. It is an i ...

, indigenous knowledge systems,

ethnobotany Ethnobotany is an interdisciplinary field at the interface of natural and social sciences that studies the relationships between humans and plants. It focuses on traditional knowledge of how plants are used, managed, and perceived in human socie ...

and medicinal

aromatic In organic chemistry, aromaticity is a chemical property describing the way in which a conjugated system, conjugated ring of unsaturated bonds, lone pairs, or empty orbitals exhibits a stabilization stronger than would be expected from conjugati ...

plants. He is an assistant professor in the faculty area of Ecosystem and Environment Management at the Indian Institute of Forest Management.

Early life and education

Kala was born and grew up in Sumari, a small village of

Uttarakhand Uttarakhand (, ), also known as Uttaranchal ( ; List of renamed places in India, the official name until 2007), is a States and union territories of India, state in North India, northern India. The state is bordered by Himachal Pradesh to the n ...

state in

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

. 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 185 research papers and articles and nine books including: ''The Valley of Flowers: Myth and Reality'', ''Medicinal Plants of Indian Trans-Himalaya'', ''Medicinal Plants of Uttarakhand'', and ''Ecology and Conservation of Valley of Flowers National Park''. 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 World Heritage Sites are landmarks and areas with legal protection under an treaty, international treaty administered by UNESCO for having cultural, historical, or scientific significance. The sites are judged to contain "cultural and natural ...

by UNESCO in 2005. Kala has surveyed two major traditional systems of Asian therapies -

Ayurveda Ayurveda (; ) is an alternative medicine system with historical roots in the Indian subcontinent. It is heavily practised throughout India and Nepal, where as much as 80% of the population report using ayurveda. The theory and practice of ayur ...

and the

traditional Tibetan medicine Traditional Tibetan medicine or Sowa Rigpa is the Tibetan medical system developed in the 8th century under King Trisong Detsen that incorporated the best international medical practices of that time.Claude Arpi, ''Glimpses on the Tibet History' ...

. He has studied various natural resource management practices evolved by various tribal communities in northwest, northeast and central India, especially in

Arunachal Pradesh Arunachal Pradesh (; ) is a States and union territories of India, state in northeast India. It was formed from the North-East Frontier Agency (NEFA) region, and India declared it as a state on 20 February 1987. Itanagar is its capital and la ...

Himachal Pradesh Himachal Pradesh (; Sanskrit: ''himācāl prādes;'' "Snow-laden Mountain Province") is a States and union territories of India, state in the northern part of India. Situated in the Western Himalayas, it is one of the thirteen Indian Himalayan ...

, Jammu and Kashmir,

Chhattisgarh Chhattisgarh (; ) is a landlocked States and union territories of India, state in Central India. It is the List of states and union territories of India by area, ninth largest state by area, and with a population of roughly 30 million, the List ...

and

Madhya Pradesh Madhya Pradesh (; ; ) is a state in central India. Its capital is Bhopal and the largest city is Indore, Indore. Other major cities includes Gwalior, Jabalpur, and Sagar, Madhya Pradesh, Sagar. Madhya Pradesh is the List of states and union te ...

. 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. Kala also has surveyed the

Alps The Alps () are some of the highest and most extensive mountain ranges in Europe, stretching approximately across eight Alpine countries (from west to east): Monaco, France, Switzerland, Italy, Liechtenstein, Germany, Austria and Slovenia. ...

including the only national park of Slovenia, Triglav National Park. 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 The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) is an Government of India, Indian government Ministry (government department), ministry charged with health policy in India. It is also responsible for all government programs relating to family ...

, of India. 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''.

Award and recognition

Kala is a member of the National Academy of Sciences, the first science academy of India established in 1930. He has been awarded fellowships from the national and international institutions including the

International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development The International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) is a regional intergovernmental organization, intergovernmental learning and knowledge sharing centre founded in 1981, serving the eight regional member countries of the Hindu ...

, 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 Biodiversity is the variability of life, life on Earth. It can be measured on various levels. There is for example genetic variability, species diversity, ecosystem diversity and Phylogenetics, phylogenetic diversity. Diversity is not distribut ...

conservation in the various

national parks A national park is a nature park designated for conservation (ethic), conservation purposes because of unparalleled national natural, historic, or cultural significance. It is an area of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that is protecte ...

, wildlife sanctuaries and biosphere reserves of the Indian

Himalayas The Himalayas, or Himalaya ( ), is a mountain range in Asia, separating the plains of the Indian subcontinent from the Tibetan Plateau. The range has some of the Earth's highest peaks, including the highest, Mount Everest. More than list of h ...

. He has been a visiting scholar at

Pennsylvania State University The Pennsylvania State University (Penn State or PSU) is a Public university, public Commonwealth System of Higher Education, state-related Land-grant university, land-grant research university with campuses and facilities throughout Pennsyl ...

, in the United States and the

University of Ljubljana The University of Ljubljana (, , ), abbreviated UL, is the oldest and largest university in Slovenia. It has approximately 38,000 enrolled students. The university has 23 faculties and three art academies with approximately 4,000 teaching and re ...

in Slovenia. Kala was awarded the prestigious ICFRE Award for Excellence in the Forest Conservation (Biodiversity and Ecology).Indian Council of Forestry Research and Education. http://icfre.org/UserFiles/File/annual_report-2005-06/chapter-2.pdf

Works

Collection

* ''Nanda's Neelkanth''

Short stories

Travelogues

Essays

Books

* ''The Valley of Flowers: Myth and Reality'' * ''Medicinal Plants of Uttarakhand'' * ''Medicinal Plants of Indian Trans-Himalaya'' * ''Medicinal Plants and Sustainable Development'' * ''Biodiversity, Communities and Climate Change''

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Kala, Chandra Prakash Living people Year of birth missing (living people) Indian male writers Ethnobotanists Indian ecologists Scientists from Uttarakhand People from Pauri Garhwal district Indian environmentalists Himalayan studies Hemwati Nandan Bahuguna Garhwal University alumni