ATTITUDES TOWARDS NATURE IN THE ASIAN TROPICS

            My frequent and often long visits to India and Southeast Asia have made me an observer of the environmental changes sweeping the region, and attitudes of Asians towards the environment and environmental problems.  I wrote a popular book on Asian environmental problems at the end of my work at the University of Malaya and I continue to collect information for future writing.  In autumn of 1998 I participated in a conference on Hinduism and Ecology at the Center for the Study of World Religions at the Harvard Divinity School, and gave a paper on “the Natural History of the Ramayana” which was recently published as part of an edited book by Harvard University Press.  I am also collaborating with Radha Veach of Ganeshpuri, a small village northeast of Mumbai.  We are studying the effects of disturbance history on woody plant diversity in forest remnant of the Tansa Valley in Thane District.  We are also collecting ethnobiological data in the valley and plan to write a monograph on the forest vegetation of the area.

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East slope of Tungar Hill, in Tansa Valley.  Tungar contains the largest area of remaining forest,
and the highest diversity of woody plants, in the valley.

Summit ridge of Tungar Hill, with Kamandurg Summit and Fort to the south. 
This ridge contains the largest remaining tract of forest in the area. 
Its high diversity and rare species make its conservation a high priority.