Dhrubajyoti Ghosh

Dhrubajyoti Ghosh (1947 – February 16, 2018) was a UN Global 500 Laureate, Special Advisor on Agricultural Ecosystems, part of the Commission on Ecosystem Management, and Regional Chair for South Asia of the IUCN.[1][2][3][4] He is most credited for devoting his life for the survival of the East Kolkata Wetlands, naming it, and creating the world's only fully functioning organic sewage management system.[3][5][6]

Dhrubajyoti Ghosh
Dhrubajyoti Ghosh (right) accompanied by two others
Born1947 (1947)
DiedFebruary 16, 2018(2018-02-16) (aged 70–71)
OccupationEngineer Ecologist

Early life

He attended the University of Calcutta in West Bengal, India, and was the first engineer of the university to graduate with a PhD in ecology. He went on to become a sanitation engineer for the West Bengal government, which brought the issues of the Kolkata Wetlands to his sites.[1][3]

Work

Advocating nature-based solutions, Dhrubajyoti Ghosh's work in the East Kolkata showed it could be used for free-of-charge sewage work, fertile aquatic gardens and fisheries, and flood defenses with minimal harm to the environment.[3]

Using his position in RAMSAR, he secured the protection of the wetlands under the RAMSAR convention. This land soon became the world's only fully functional organic sewage management system, treating 750 million litres/day, using solar UV radiation to purify canals leading into the wetlands.[3][5] The wetlands are now under threat by developers, which Dhrubajyoti Ghosh constantly resisted during his life.[3] His main complaint on the upkeep of this project is that there is no large scale management or municipal ownership of the system to keep quality control, and there is currently no known governmental plans to change that.[4][5]

His work included being Chief of the Department of Environment of the Government of West Bengal, member of the Board of Trustees of the India Worldwide Fund for Nature, fellow of the National Institute of Science within the Government of India, member to the management board of RAMSAR, and a member of the National Wetland Committee.[3]

He died in Kolkata on February 16, 2018.[3]

Other Accomplishments
  • 2005 - Published the book "Ecology and Traditional Wetland Practice: Lessons from Wastewater Utilisation in the East Calcutta Wetlands". In it he coined the term "cognitive apartheid", meaning the systematic exclusion of the knowledge of the poor by the elite.[7][8]
  • August 2016 - First Indian to earn the Luc Hoffmann Award, credited for his work on East Kolkata Wetland.[3][6][2]
  • 2017 - Published the book "The Trash Diggers", exploring the lives of individuals living in a dump site on the fringes of eastern Kolkata.[3][9]
  • Recognized as an Ashoka Fellow.[6]
gollark: People haven't managed anything better yet, yes.
gollark: Humans are kind of awful.
gollark: Do we REALLY want our AIs to try and be as accurate as possible to *humans*?
gollark: If you value them, you need to stay around to wipe them out.
gollark: However, what about OTHER possible intelligent species (or future humans of some sort)?

References
  1. "Dhrubajyoti Ghosh (1947-2018): He found wealth in waste". The Indian Express. 2018-02-20. Retrieved 2019-11-26.
  2. Ghosh, Dhrubajyoti. "Dhrubajyoti Ghosh". LinkedIn.
  3. "Obituary: Dr Dhrubjyoti Ghosh, pioneer of wetland conservation in Eastern India". iucn.org. April 5, 2018. Retrieved November 26, 2019.
  4. Majumdar, Arkamoy Dutta (February 2018). "Dhrubajyoti Ghosh, wetlands warrior of Kolkata, is dead". Mint. Retrieved 2019-11-26.
  5. "Dhrubajyoti Ghosh - Civil Society Magazine". civilsocietyonline.com. Retrieved 2019-11-26.
  6. "Dhrubajyoti Ghosh to receive Luc Hoffmann Award for work on wise use of wetlands in Kolkata". Ramsar News. August 17, 2016.
  7. "Teachings of the East Calcutta Wetlands". indiawaterportal.org. Retrieved 2019-11-26.
  8. "Dhrubajyoti Ghosh, saviour of the East Kolkata Wetlands, believed in people and not policies". https://scroll.in. Retrieved 2019-11-26. External link in |website= (help)
  9. Ghosh, Dhrubajyoti (2017). The Trash Diggers. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-947414-1.


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