Naba Bhattacharjee

Withering Forests Dying Rivers Naba Bhattacharjee

The book, as the title - Withering forests Dying rivers convey, is a work highlighting concerns regarding the desecrated status of the environment in the new millennium, which dawned on the author as revealed in the preface. Passion of the author for preservation of environment prompted highlighting of case studies covering depleting forest cover, receding catchments of water sources, rapid disappearance of hills, defilement of rivers and water bodies, mining of fossil fuels, ills of harnessing ground water and above all the urgent need to revert back to age old wisdom and traditional mode of conservation as a guiding principle. The author through his writings, interaction with civil society and policy makers since 2005 made sustained efforts to create awareness among the common denizens and also draw attention on the ailing environment with plausible solutions. The multi-pronged approach was primarily to elicit positive response to the alert signals, with a focus on the youth to initiate positive interventions in arresting the rapid decline in the state of environment, which has been allowed to be defiled and exploited at will. The issues in the book are not new; nor state specific, but evident all over the globe in some form or the other, assuming alarming proportions in absence of any concrete measures to evolve a comprehensive strategy to tackle the impending doom. Has the situation improved or further deteriorated? It is for the readers to comprehend and decide.