Invited Speakers

Jillian Ooi is a Senior Lecturer at the Department of Geography, Universiti Malaya. She studies seagrass ecology and biogeography and seeks to understand the environmental requirements of multi-species meadows and interactions between species. She has led projects on the spatial ecology of seagrass, fish communities in seagrass, dugong feeding behaviour in seagrass, fishing community perceptions of seagrass, and is currently developing predictive models for seagrass distribution in Southeast Asia.

https://scholar.google.com/citations?hl=en&user=ZbDQ7Q8AAAAJ 

Title of talk: Seagrass as faunal habitats: advocating for seagrass conservation via ecosystem services

Seagrass science is challenged by the public’s perception of seagrass as “just grass”, leaving it in the shadow of coral reefs and mangroves in terms of funding opportunities and public affection. Seagrass meadows, however, are ecologically and economically important ecosystems and this talk will highlight what science has revealed about their role in sustaining marine populations and overall ocean health. One way of increasing the public profile of seagrass is by engaging in research on the ecosystem services of seagrass as habitats for fauna. Our approach to studying fish communities in seagrass in juxtaposition to those in coral reefs, and dugong feeding behaviour in seagrass will be discussed. Overcoming seagrass blindness is challenging but still possible if we use ecosystem service-focused studies to reframe seagrass advocacy for conservation.

Dr Rupesh K Bhomia completed M.Sc. at the School of Environmental Sciences, JNU, in 2003. He then attended Oxford University to conduct another Masters in Biodiversity, Conservation and Management. He holds a PhD in Wetlands Biogeochemistry from the University of Florida. During his diverse career he has worked in research institutes (Indian institute of Forest Management), academic institutions (University of Florida and Oregon State University in USA as well as Non-Govt organizations (WWF-India).

At present, Dr. Bhomia is a scientist at Centre for International Forestry Research (CIFOR) based in Indonesia. He is working as Blue Carbon and Climate Change expert in the Climate Change, Energy and Low Carbon Development group. His work focuses on freshwater peatlands and coastal mangrove ecosystems as potential options for designing nature-based solutions for climate change. During his decade long research career, he has conducted research in both freshwater and marine ecosystems. Notably freshwater wetlands of Florida Everglades and Peruvian Amazonia, and coastal mangroves in India, Honduras, Liberia, Gabon, Ghana, Madagascar and Senegal.

https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=J04IkkYAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=sra 

Title of talk: “Tropical peat swamp forests: why these ecosystems matter in our fight against climate change?”

Mitigation of climate change impacts involve two strategies – reduction in anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions and actively sequestering atmospheric CO2 that has increased to an unprecedented level. Multiple options exist to pursue either of these strategies. While some measures require forgoing economic development (in a conventional sense), other alternatives depend on advanced and costly technologies not easily available. While most developing nations find such interventions unattractive due to high social costs, many wealthier /developed countries tend to resist any change in their ‘business as usual’ approach. In such a situation, nature-based solutions (NBS) can offer opportunities for reducing climate change impacts and advance us towards achieving sustainable development goals.

Conservation and restoration of tropical peatlands are examples of excellent nature-based solutions. Protection of these ecosystems can help in preventing greenhouse gases (GHG) emissions due to degradation, deforestation and drainage and high carbon (C) storage potential. These ecosystems also provide myriad biodiversity co-benefits along with numerous other ecosystem services to local (and global) communities.

In this talk, C storage value of peatlands will be demonstrated by utilizing examples of studies from Peruvian Amazonia. This presentation will share some scientific methodologies and information from field research conducted in peat swamp forests to determine impacts of vegetation losses and habitat degradation on C storage potential of these ecosystems.

Dr. Sahadev Sharma did his PhD in plant ecology and physiology from University of the Ryukyus, Okinawa, Japan. Prior to his PhD, he got his MSc and MPhil degree from Department of Botany, CCS University Meerut. Presently, He is working as a Senior Lecturer at Institute of Ocean and Earth Science, Universiti Malaya, Malaysia.

He has been doing research on mangrove forest ecology and physiology from organ to the landscape level, using a wide spectrum of methods and technologies such as remote sensing and field based monitoring and sampling, integrating ecological, chemical and hydrological data.

He is associated with global project SWAMP (Sustainable Wetland Adaptation and Mitigation Program) funded by USAID, USA. He has done research in different countries (India, Japan, Indonesia, Philippines, Cambodia, Palau, Hawaii, Mexico, Vietnam, Madagascar and Malaysia). He is the author of about 60 research works published in many peer-reviewed journals and about 70 international conference papers.

https://scholar.google.com/citations?hl=en&user=hdWna6wAAAAJ 

Dr. Krishna Ray did her Bachelor’s and Master’s both in Botany, obtained Ph.D. from Bose Institute, Kolkata and did her post-doctoral studies from Dept. of Genetics, University of Delhi South Campus. She joined West Bengal State University, Kolkata as an Assistant Professor in Botany in 2009 and initiated her independent research right from scratch in the area of Environmental Biotechnology. Her doctoral and postdoctoral research experience in the field of genetic engineering in Cotton and Mustard made her confident enough to understand the ecological enigma in our environment and utilize the nature’s inherent strength to resolve the environmental issues. She assumed Ecological Restoration endeavor in Degraded Mangrove Ecosystem of Indian Sundarbans since 2014 and continuing till date in a major way with complete financial support from Department of Biotechnology, Govt. of India.

https://scholar.google.com/citations?hl=en&user=aOGebkAAAAAJ 

Dr Gurmeet Singh completed M.Sc. and PhD at the School of Environmental Sciences, JNU. Dr Gurmeet Singh is working as a scientist at the National Centre for Sustainable Coastal Management. Ministry of Environment and Forests. Government of India.  He has been working in the domain of coastal biogeochemistry for the last 15 years. He has worked extensively on carbon burial and nutrient dynamics in coastal ecosystems. His current area of interest is the blue carbon ecosystem and climate change.

https://scholar.google.com/citations?hl=en&user=-sXbKG0AAAAJ 

https://sites.google.com/site/biogeosciences/gurmeet 

Title of Talk: "Significance of Seagrass ecosystem: An Indian Perspective"

Seagrass meadows represent one of the most ecologically rich and productive marines ecosystems, occupying <0.2% of the world’s oceans. In addition to the significant carbon sequestration potential, they represent important nursery habitats for a wide range of fish and other aquatic species, providing habitat and harbouring significant biodiversity.

These ecosystems are one of the least studied ecosystems in India, not only with regard to spatial distribution but also to productivity potential. Recent estimates suggest that 471.25 km2 of seagrass meadows are distributed along the mainland coast of India and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands Often, these seagrass meadows coexist with coral reef ecosystems. Over 50% of these seagrass meadows (330 km2) are present in Palk Bay, located in south-eastern India and is associated with the highest seagrass species.

The webinar by Dr Gurmeet Singh will provide an overview of (a) Distribution of seagrass in India, (b) climate regulatory services of seagrass ecosystem and it's economic valuation, (c) its role as proxy for assessment of ecosystem health and (d) legislation and policy options for conservation and management

Dr. Khan completed his B.Sc. in Forestry from Khulna University in 1997 (1st class 1st). He obtained MS (2002) and Ph.D (2005) in Forest Ecology from University of the Ryukyus, Japan under Monbukagakusho scholarship. He was awarded Alexander Von Humboldt Postdoc fellowship, Germany (2009-2011) and FNRS (National Science Foundation of Belgium) Postdoc fellowship, Belgium (2011-2013) for advanced research. Dr. Khan published many articles in Scopus indexed journal in the field of forest biomass inventory, carbon assessment, simulation modelling of forest dynamics and their utilization in forest management. 

Email: nabiulkhan@gmail.com  / mnikhan@fwt.ku.ac.bd  

Mobile: +880 1715 331652 

https://www.scopus.com/authid/detail.uri?authorId=8597485100 

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1536-8954  

https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=u_Y7LUcAAAAJ&hl=en  

Title of Talk: "Biodiversity, ecosystem services and management in the Sundarbans mangrove forest, Bangladesh"