About the Book

Nature knows no political frontiers whether for climate change or trans-boundary pollution. Climate change is today perhaps the greatest worry worldwide. The Western countries were the biggest polluters until a few decades ago. The developing countries must learn from the mistakes of the West. The debate on how much climate change is likely in the future is overshadowed by the still greater debate on what, if any, should be done to reduce or reverse global warming. How to tackle the consequences is another issue that is engaging the attention of environmentalists and policy makers across the world. 

HD Kumar's book is likely to increase appreciation of this phenomenon which is not limited to territorial boundaries of certain countries though political debates may make it look so. It makes an incisive analysis of what causes these changes and how. The book is useful for students of climatology, geography, meteorology, global climate change and environmental science. Even lay readers of environmental issues will find the book extremely useful in understanding the problems facing mankind.

Policy makers across the world will find the book useful in helping them take wise, balanced and informed decisions concerning present and future humanity living in the fragile and rapidly crowding greenhouse. Kumar tries to explain the issues, various international protocols and the jargons associated with this field of specialisation in simple and easily comprehensible expressions. 

About the Author

Har Darshan Kumar is a member of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) panel on environmental effects of oZone depletion. Issues such as climate change, nano-biotechnology, stem cell biology, and alternative and complementary medicine are his current interests. He also edits the Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology for the Korean Society of Microbiology (Seoul). Kumar is a prolific writer on issues such as climate, environment, agriculture, biotechnology, and some frontline areas of biomedical sciences. He has more than 150 research and review papers published in various international journals. 

Born in 1934, Kumar undertook the study of science in its spirit. The dedication soon saw him travelling to the United Kingdom. He completed his PhD in Algal Physiology in 1963 from the University of London, UK, where he was a Commonwealth scholar from 1960-63. Various scholarships, fellowship, and teaching assignments took him to places such as Canada, Japan, Germany, United States, Australia, Argentina, New Zealand, Finland, Korea, China, Thailand and South Africa. 

Kumar superannuated as Professor and Dean from the Banaras Hindu University (BHU’S) Faculty of Science in 1994. After that, he served as Emeritus Scientist of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) till 1999. His scholarly pursuits have always manifested in scientific papers and books. This book, which is his 26th, is another landmark in his career.