CONGRESS GUESTS

Dr. V.S. Vijayan is a pioneering Indian ecologist, ornithologist, and environmental policy reformer. A student of Dr. Salim Ali, he has spent over four decades investigating wetland ecology, tropical forest conservation, and the ecological governance of the Western Ghats.

Prof. Madhav Gadgil is one of India’s most distinguished ecological thinkers. He chaired the landmark Western Ghats Ecology Expert Panel (WGEEP) and has published extensively on human ecology, community resource management, and ecological democracy.

Dr. Ratheesh Narayanan is a renowned botanical taxonomist who has discovered over 25 new plant species in the Western Ghats. His work focuses on rare, endangered, and threatened (RET) flora of the Wayanad plateau and shola ecosystems.

C.K. Janu is a celebrated tribal leader, social activist, and custodian of indigenous land sovereignty traditions in Wayanad. She has spearheaded movements for Adivasi land rights and forest heritage preservation for over three decades.

Dr. Vishnudas leads the Hume Centre for Ecology, orchestrating community-based weather monitoring, bird atlas initiatives, and high-altitude habitat restoration across Wayanad.

Dr. Sankar specializes in tropical forest hydrology, soil conservation, and watershed restoration. He has pioneered eco-restoration blueprints for degraded mountain catchments.

Devaki Amma is an elder herbalist with over fifty years of experiential mastery identifying rare medicinal bryophytes, ferns, and wild tubers across the Chembra foothills.

Prof. Arundhati Nair leads isotopic tracer research mapping occult precipitation and groundwater recharge in high-altitude tropical cloud forests.