“I worry about people fighting for food in the future”, Dr. Ashok Khosla

Dr Ashok Khosla has been a pioneer when it comes to the environment, with probably one of the most impressive CV’s to go with it.

He is the president of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), the world’s largest and most representative alliance of conservation agencies and interest groups, besides the co-chair of the Resource Panel, which has been set up by UNEP evaluate the use and consumption of resources across the world.

Here, he spoke to IamRenew about the big challenges coming up globally, and the need for urgent action to avoid some truly disastrous outcomes.

Globally,  Dr. Khosla  has had worn several hats, from Special Advisor to the Brundtland Commission (WCED), Chair of the ‘92 NGO Forum at the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, and the Boards of several environment and conservation organizations.

He is credited with helping to design and teach the first university course on the environment (as an assistant to Professor Roger Revelle at Harvard University, 1965); to set up and head the first governmental agency for the Environment in a developing country (under Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, 1972); to set up the original international information system on environment (Infoterra, with Maurice Strong at UNEP, 1976).

He is currently involved with Development Alternatives Group, an organisation he founded, where he chairs the board.

The Delhi based DA Group was among the first civil society organisations set up to address the issues of sustainable development as a whole. It also pioneered the concept of social enterprise, creating business-like approaches for eradicating poverty and conserving the natural resource base.

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