HPU professor is IIAS director

Churning over Himalayan ecology at the prestigious Indian Institute of Advanced Study (IIAS) has proved significant for flood-ravaged Uttarakhand, where 1,000 people lost their lives and 5,000 are still missing.

IIAS in collaboration with The Energy and Research Institute (TERI) had organised a seminar in July on “Environmental governance in context of sustainable development in India focused on mountain ecosystem of the country”.

Institute director Peter Ronald DeSouza, whose term expired on Wednesday, gave out the details that after the seminar, a policy document was prepared.

The dialogue, he said, was attended by different stakeholders across Himalayas running form Jammu and Kashmir to Arunachal Pradesh.

Stakeholders from the nine states had participated in the discussions. “We are not very much sure that how much will be implemented from the policy document by the Uttarakhand government,” said DeSouza here.

The policy document comprised the ecology of the Himalayan mountains and suggested some measures for managing them.

De Souza reminisced his stint and works undertaken by him during his five-and-a-half-year tenure here.

“These were my dream years. I could not have dreamt of better job and a better place to work at,” he said.