KINGSTON, R.I. – November 24, 2009 – The head of the World Wildlife Fund Project in the Sundarbans Delta of Eastern India will discuss “Environmental Impacts of India’s Development: The Story of the Royal Bengal Tiger,” Tuesday, Dec. 1 at the University of Rhode Island.

Anurag Danda’s lecture will be held at 7:30 p.m. in the Chafee Social Science Center, Room 271, 10 Chafee Road, on the Kingston Campus. The lecture is free and open to the public.

Danda will talk about the precarious ecosystem where the Royal Bengal tiger coexists with millions of subsistence village folks who rely on fishing and agriculture. Dramatic tidal changes occur daily while heavy rains and occasional cyclones make this ecosystem very lush and fertile, but also balanced precariously between nature’s bounty and nature’s fury.

Between January 1998 and June 1999, Anurag was a project collaborator of the Swiss Tropical Institute, Basel. The project took him to the Sundarbans delta of West Bengal, where he has been working ever since. He has implemented a community forestry project and an educational project in the Sundarbans. Anurag is a doctoral candidate in technology and sustainable development at University of Twente, Enschede – The Netherlands.

His research is focused on the development process in the Sundarbans and explores the prospects of attaining sustainable development goals in a highly biodiverse, fragile eco-region with a surrounding human population of close to half a million.

Anurag received his postgraduate diploma in environment management from the Indian Institute of Social Welfare and Business Management in 1995 and worked at the Environment Management Cell of the Calcutta Metropolitan Water and Sanitation Authority until 1997. He received his master’s degree in sociology and social anthropology from North Bengal University in Darjeeling in 1997.

As a public health precaution, the University asks those with influenza-like symptoms on the day of the program not to attend, but rather watch the evening program live online via the Demystifying India website at www.uri.edu.

For further details about the colloquium, including an updated schedule and information on parking, go to uri.edu/hc or contact the URI Honors Center at 401.874.2381 or debg@uri.edu.

Major colloquium sponsors are: The Honors Program, Office of the President, Office of the Provost, College of Business Administration, College of Arts & Sciences, College of Engineering, Division of University Advancement, The Anthony J. Risica Lecture Series on Innovation & Entrepreneurship, and The Village Inn – Narragansett.

Additional sponsors include: College of Human Science and Services, College of the Environment and Life Sciences, Office of the Vice President for Administration, Office of the Vice Provost for Information Technology Services, University College, URI Diversity Week-Multicultural Center, URI Women’s Studies Program, The Mark and Donna Ross Honors Colloquium Humanities Endowment, Kabob N Curry – Providence, and Professor G.S. Verma and Mrs. R. Verma.