A FOREST OF OPPORTUNITY

BY I RAJNI ANAND

....,.. LUTHRA ,_

CNambiar is fascinated by forest~ There's no o ther wa)' to describe it, especially as he has spent over 45 years studying them More specifically; his career has been devoted to looking at ways in which co use forests sustainably to achieve econom ic growth. For his considerable concributions in the area, Dr Nambiar was honoured wicb the Officer of the Order of Australia award on Australia Day this year.

"111i s honour is really a recognition tbat m y field of work, sustainability, is a long- term issue that is central to hL1man welfare," Dr Nambiar tells fodian Link.

Havin g retired fro m th e C SIRO, the internationall y r ecogni sed scientist continues to work dail y He remains " pers onall)' and emotionally involved" in the stud y of how forests can be Ltsed for poverty alleviation.

"Some 400 million people live in or at the borde.rs of forests, in abject poverty," Dr Nambiar states.

"Everybody agrees that forest~ support life, yet the custodians of forests are left om of development programs".

He cites the case of his native state in Ind ia, Kerala: it may be one of the country's most prosperou s states, yet its forestbased communities continue co be severely econ omicall y disadvantaged.

Dr Nam biar's knowledge of forest systems bas b een applied in programs in lnclia, Indonesia, L aos and Vietnam.

So what drew him to study forests?

"I trained as an agricultural scientist inicially, and then moved to forestry," he replies. "The thrill of working witb comp lex 'b ig' things caused me to make this move. You see, in agriculture, you're vrorking at a micro scale: wheat fo r instance, h as a short life cycle of say, four mouths. lith fores t s, you're at the