Sustainable and Conservation Management of Environmental Resources in India

The concept of natural resource sustainability has taken on new importance in today’s world, and community participation in the conservation of forest resources is essential for generating innovative sustainability solutions. This new book looks at some of the important issues in sustainability and natural resource conservation, including pollution, agroforestry, forest fire detection and monitoring, sericulture-based agroforestry, soil quality preservation and restoration, and remote sensing and machine learning for improved agriculture.

Sumit Chakravarty, PhD, is currently working as a Professor and Head of Department of Forestry, Uttar Banga Krishi Viswavidyalaya, Pundibari, Cooch Behar, West Bengal, India. He has a vast experience of more than 20 years in forestry training, research, and development. He has researched several aspects of forestry, agroforestry, medicinal plants, and climate change with national and internationally reputed publications. This includes many research papers, book chapters, and books. He has successfully completed several research projects, with 15 ongoing on forest ecology, medicinal plants, and agroforestry. He has trained more than 50 master’s and doctoral students in the field of forestry. Dr. Chakravarty has attended more than 50 national and international conferences as a presenter and invited speaker. He holds a master’s degree in Forestry and a doctoral degree in Agronomy from Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana, India.

Vineeta, PhD, is an emergent researcher, currently holding the position of Assistant Professor in Forestry at Uttar Banga Krishi Viswavidyalaya, Pundibari, Cooch Behar, West Bengal, India. She has more than seven years of teaching and research experience in the field of forestry. Her major contribution as a researcher is in the fields of ethnobotany, non-timber forest products (NTFPs), agroforestry, and medicinal plants. She has authored over 30 research papers, eight book chapters, and two books. She holds a BSc degree (Forestry) and MSc (Forestry) from HNB Garhwal Central University, Srinagar, Garhwal, Uttarakhand, India.

Jahangeer A. Bhat, PhD, is currently serving at the College of Horticulture and Forestry at Rani Lakshmi Bai Central Agricultural University, Jhansi, India. He is also the former Head, Department of Forestry at the College of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, Fiji National University, Republic of Fiji Islands. Dr. Bhat has worked as a counselor, mentor, and coordinator for academic forestry programs. Before joining Fiji National University, he worked for HNB Garhwal University and has 11 years of research and eight years of teaching experience with a publication record of more than 60, which includes research articles, review papers, conference papers, and books with publications of national and international repute. Dr. Bhat is a reviewer for several scientific journals and has handled research projects in his capacity as principal and co-principal investigator. His major interests lie in emerging issues in forestry, including the conservation of biodiversity, traditional knowledge of plants, and sustainable management of forest resources. His main research focus is on vegetation ecology, ethnobotany, and evaluation of ecosystem services, forest plant biodiversity, climate change, and sociocultural issues in forestry.

Munesh Kumar, PhD, is Professor in the Department of Forestry and Natural Resources, H.N.B. Garhwal University, Srinagar Garhwal, Uttarakhand, India. He also served at Mizoram University, Aizawl, India, as Assistant Professor in the Department of Forestry. His areas of research interest are forest ecology and biodiversity, agroforestry, and ethnobotany. He has more than 17 years of teaching and research experience and has published more than 135 research papers in international and national journals. Recently, he published an edited book as lead editor from CRC press titled Diversity and Dynamics in Forest Ecosystem. Dr. Kumar is presently working as a guest editor for two different issues of the Land Journal of MDPI and guest editor for Frontier of Environmental Sciences and Frontiers in Forests and Global Change. He is also an Associate Editor for PLOS-Climate Journal. He earned his MSc and PhD degrees in Forestry at H.N.B. Garhwal University.

Gopal Shukla, PhD, is currently working as Assistant Professor of Forestry in Uttar Banga Krishi Viswavidyalaya, Pundibari, Cooch Behar, West Bengal, India. He has more than ten years of teaching and research experience. He has worked on different projects, including the National Agricultural Innovation Project (ICAR); National Innovations in Climate Resilient Agriculture (ICAR); and a young scientist project on carbon stock of different land uses (Science and Engineering Research Board, Department of Science and Technology, Government of India). He continues his work on research projects on forest ecology, medicinal plants, and agroforestry. He has published his research and development work focusing on agroforestry, medicinal plants, forest ecology, and conservation in national and international publications, including more than 70 research papers, over 20 book chapters, and eight books. He has trained many master’s and doctoral students in the field of forestry. Dr. Shukla has attended more than 30 national and international conferences. He holds master’s and doctoral degrees in Forestry.