Major Lectures

1981
Lecture on "The relevance of mud as a building material in rural housing programmes in the developing world" delivered in Beijing at a seminar on the Rural Habitat organised by the Aga Khan Award for Architecture, Geneva

1984
The Fifth Vikram Sarabhai Memorial Lecture in New Delhi on "Beyond Pretty Trees and Tigers : The Role of environmental destruction in increasing poverty and people's protests" organised by the Indian Council of Social Science Research.

1985
Fifth World Conservation Lecture in London on "Human-Nature Interactions in a Third World Country: The case of India" held at the University of London and organised by the World Wildlife Fund-UK

1986
Addressed a special meeting of the Union Council of Ministers, Government of India on the "State of India's Environment -- Between Need and Greed: The Wasting of India, the Greening of India" at the request of the Prime Minister, Shri Rajiv Gandhi, and thereafter all 27 Parliamentary Consultative Committees of the Union Ministries.

1987

  • Lecture on the "Impact of Environmental Destruction on Floods and Droughts" to all members of the Indian Parliament the request of the Prime Minister, Shri Rajiv Gandhi. 

  • 13th Gandhi Peace Foundation Lecture on "Gandhi, Ecology and the Last Person". 

  • "The relationship of Environment and Development" delivered at the Nordic Conference on Environment held on the occasion of the Brundtland Commission’s report. 

  • Keynote lecture on "Role of NGOs in Environmental Protection" delivered at the ‘Symposium on Environment and Development -- The year 2000 and beyond’ organised by the Free University of Amsterdam following the publication of the Brundtland Commission’s report. 

  • Lecture on "Third World’s Environment" at the Rally on Environment and Development organised by The Other Economic Summit and held in London following the publication of the Brundtland Commission’s Report 

  • Lecture on "Environmental Management in the Third World" delivered at the Seminar on Strengthening Environmental Cooperation with Developing Countries organised by OECD in Paris.

1989
Keynote Lecture on "The Environment Movement in India" delivered at the India-Pakistan Conference on Environment, Lahore

1990

  • Keynote lecture on "The Tradition of Water Harvesting: Challenges and Opportunities," delivered at the National Seminar on Traditional Water Harvesting and Management Systems of India, New Delhi. 

  • Delivered a series of lecture on "Environment and Development" at Australian Universities in Hobart, Melbourne, Sydney, Adelaide and Canberra 

  • Lecture on "People’s Participation and Resource Management" delivered at the World Bank, Washington, DC. 

  • Lecture on "Global Change and Global Democracy" delivered at the Centre for Population and Development Studies, Harvard University, US

1992

  • Keynote lecture on "Ecological restructuring in the North keeping Southern interests in mind" delivered at the Annual Congress of the Wissenschaftszentrum Nordrhein-Westfalen on `Ecological Restructuring in NRW -- Environmental Managers and Environmentalists in Dialogue’ held in Bonn. 

  • Keynote lecture on "The importance of people’s participation" delivered at a seminar on ‘After Rio: Research Challenges Ahead’ organised by the Swedish Agency for Research Cooperation with developing countries and the Stockholm Group for Studies on Natural Resource Management, Stockholm. 

  • Lecture on "Development Perspectives in the North Eastern Region -- Vision for the Future" delivered at the invitation of the North Eastern Council on its 10th anniversary in Guwahati, Assam.

  •  Lecture on "Environment and Development" as part of a Distinguished Lecture Series organised by the Institute of Social Studies, The Hague to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the institute.

     

1994

  • Lecture on the "Environmental Challenges of the Maldives" delivered in the presence of President M A Gayoom of the Maldives, New Delhi.

  • Lecture on "The Concept of Sustainability: Political and Technical Dimensions" delivered to the World Bank, Washington, DC

1995

  • Keynote lecture on "The South Asian Mission in Environment" delivered at the Third South Asian NGO Summit, Kathmandu. 

  • Keynote lecture on "Promoting public awareness about ecological changes and their impact on human health" delivered at the 15th World Conference of the International Union for Health Promotion and Education, Tokyo.

1996

  • Lecture on "Environment and the Poor" delivered at the World Bank, Washington,DC 

  • Keynote lecture on "Global Warming, Equity and Entitlements" delivered at the conference on "Long-Term Sustainability, Democracy and the 21st Century" held at Abbaye de Fontevraud in France 

  • Keynote lecture on "Protection of Traditional Knowledge and Development of Biodiversity Enterprises" delivered at the Conference on Revenue Generation from Biodiversity Conservation, Hanoi.

1997

  • Lecture at the UN Commission on Sustainable Development on "Putting a floor to Rural Poverty through Labour Investments in Managing the Natural Capital: Creating Sustainable Livelihoods", organised by UNDP in New York in April 1997. 

  • Lecture at the University of California, Berkeley, on "Environment, Poverty and Sustainable Livelihoods", organised by the Department of Agriculture and Natural Resource Economics, School of Natural Resources, in April 1997. 

  • Lecture on "Poverty and Environment" at the Special Event on Poverty Eradication organised by UNDP, New York for the benefit of its Executive Board in May 1997. 

  • Valedictory Address on "Hinduism and Ecology" at the Conference on Hinduism and Ecology, organised by the Centre for the Study of World Religions, Harvard University, Cambridge, USA in October 

  • Lecture on ‘Governance for Sustainable Development’ delivered at American University, Washington, DC on October 8, 1997 as part of a lecture series on Frontiers of Environmental Studies 

  • Inaugural Lecture at the Indo-Dutch Programme on Alternative Development (IDPAD) seminar on ‘Managing Water Scarcity’ in Amersfoort, the Netherlands in October 1997.

1998

  • Lecture on "Globalisation, Civil Society and Governance: The Challenges for the 21st Century" organised by Norwegian Forum for Environment and Development, Norway, December 15 

  • Lecture on "Community and Household Water Management: The Key to Environmental Regeneration and Poverty Alleviation" Organised by UNDP-EU, Brussels, January 21 

  • Public Lecture on the current state of the environment and the policy changes organised by Sakal Papers Ltd., Pune, on October

2001
Laws and Environmental Management: The Challenges before India (Keynote Address given at the Jamia Hamdard University, New Delhi)