Shaju Thomas

Dr. Shaju Thomas is an Associate Professor and Head of the Postgraduate Department of Zoology, Nirmala College, Muvattupuzha, Kerala, India. He joined the Dept. in 1983 as Junior Lecturer and worked in various capacities for the last 28 years in the Department. Dr. Shaju did his research in fish parasitology and awarded Ph. D. degree by the Cochin University of Science and Technology in 1989. Later, he shifted his research to biodiversity and conservation due to his involvement in the “Save Pooyamkutty Campaign” (1984-1994), which resulted in protecting a vast stretch of the least explored forests in the Edamala-Pooyamkutty valley in Kerala form a huge hydro electric project. He has been associating with Prof. Madhav Gadgil, Indian Institute of Science, Banglore since 1994 for monitoring and inventorying biodiversity of a part of the Western Ghats, one of the Global Hotspots of Biodiversity in India. He is the founder president of “Center for Diversity Studies” (CDiS), a NGO for nature conservation, environmental education and sustainable development. He is interested in governance of natural resources and has carried out research on biodiversity, ecological history and people’s participation in conservation. He has more than twenty five publications, four books and three study reports on different topics in biology, conservation and EE. He was a US- AEP Fellow (1994), a Rotary International Scholar (2000), and in 2008 he represented India at the “UN – REDD Global Consultation” in Baguio City, Philippines. He is interested in exploring the interactions of Man and Nature and its impacts, and the mode of governance of resources employing the tools of science and social science. He firmly believes that it is high time to link natural and social sciences to understand and protect Mother Earth. Dr. Shaju presented a paper at the “Colorado Conference on Earth System Governance” to substantiate his argument in this context. In addition, he argues for the democratization of governance with credibility, accountability and transparency.