P. K. Ramachandran Nair

Nair was born and raised in Kerala, India. He received a B.Sc. in Agriculture in 1961 and an M.Sc. in Agronomy in 1968, both from Kerala University. He then received a Ph.D. in Agronomy from Pantnagar University in 1971. He worked as a post-doctoral fellow for a year at the Rothamsted Experimental Station in England and returned to India, joining the Plantation Crops Research Institute as an Agronomist.[1] In 1976, he moved to Germany as a Senior Humboldt Fellow at Goettingen University; there he received a Doctor of Science degree in Tropical Agriculture.[6]

In 1978, Nair joined ICRAF, the World Agroforestry Centre, a CGIAR Institution, which he co-founded, and moved to Nairobi, Kenya, and served as a principal scientist for about 10 years. In 1987, he joined the University of Florida as professor, becoming Distinguished Professor in 2001. At the University of Florida, he initiated the Agroforestry Program.[1]

From 1994 to 2005, Nair was the Editor-in-Chief of Agroforestry Systems. He has also served as the Chief Editor of the Agroecology and Land Use section of the journal Frontiers in Environmental Science as well as on the Editorial Boards of several journals. He created the book series, Advances in Agroforestry in 2004 and has served as its editor since.[8]

Nair initiated the World Agroforestry Congress series and organized the first one in Florida in 2004. A plenary session at the fourth Congress (2019), in Montpellier, France, was dedicated to him, acknowledging his contributions to the field.[9]

In the 1960s, Nair's work was focused on multiple cropping and soil fertility management in the tropics and subtropics. Since the early 1970s, working at the Plantation (tree) Crops Institute in India, he applied the principles of multiple cropping to tree-based systems and developed the multistory cropping system with tree crops, which would later become an example of the sustainable multistrata agroforestry systems of the tropics.[10] He investigated the patterns of light profile and soil-resource utilization in sole stands (monocrop) of coconut plantations in comparison with intercropping systems,[11] which contributed to the establishment of the scientific foundations of the emerging field of agroforestry. His publications during the early 1970s on multiple cropping, 'multi-storeyed cropping’, 'integral agroforestry’ and others, published in international agricultural research journals marked the beginning of his career-long contributions to the development of the subject.[2]

In the 1980s, his research at ICRAF was focused on soil productivity under agroforestry systems. The major areas included decomposition patterns of the foliage from different multipurpose trees used in tropical agroforestry systems,[12] dynamics of soil organic matter and nutrients,[13] and crop-nutrient availability. This research was conducted in various tropical ecological regions and resulted in numerous publications, including a book: Soil Productivity Aspects of Agroforestry.[14] During the 1980s, Nair also spearheaded a global inventory of agroforestry systems, with financial support of the US-AID and collaboration of numerous institutions in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. The results were published in a book Agroforestry Systems in the Tropics (1989).[15]

In 1993, Nair wrote the book, An Introduction to Agroforestry, as a college-level textbook in agroforestry. It has been translated into Spanish, Portuguese, Japanese, and Thai languages.[16]

In the early 2000s, Nair started focusing his research on soil carbon sequestration in agroforestry systems as a strategy for climate-change mitigation, in collaboration with a group of colleagues from different continents.[17][18] This focus continued into the 2010s. He and his group established the important role of deep-rooting trees in sequestering carbon in soil, thereby reducing the emission of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere. A major outcome of the effort was a scientific understanding of the variations in soil carbon sequestration in different soil types depending on the soil characteristics and development of land-use systems to exploit the potential for climate-change mitigation. The research has produced more than 20 journal articles, a book, and numerous conference presentations to international gatherings. In addition to carbon sequestration, Nair has also worked on other aspects of ecosystem services of agroforestry systems including biodiversity conservation, soil conservation, and water quality enhancement.<GS/>

Nair’s other professional contributions include  : Editor-in-Chief of Agroforestry Systems; Chief Editor of Agroecology and Land Use Systems (Frontiers in Environmental Sciences); Editor of the book series Advances in Agroforestry; Initiator and leader of the World Agroforestry Congress series, held once every five years, starting with the first in Florida in 2004.[19]

• 2000 - International Agronomy Award, American Society of Agronomy
• 2001 - International Soil Science Award, Soil Science Society of America
• 2002 - Honorary Doctor of Science Degree, Kyoto University
• 2004 - International Crop Science Award, Crop Science Society of America
• 2004 - Barrington Moore Award, Society of American Foresters
• 2005 - Honorary Doctor of Science Degree, University of Science and Technology
• 2005 - IUFRO (International Union of Forest Research Organizations) Scientific Achievement Award
• 2005 - Fulbright Senior Specialist Award
• 2006 - Honorary Doctor of Science Degree, University of Guelph
• 2006 - Humboldt Prize[2]
• 2007 - Medal for Global Leadership in Agroforestry, Agriculture University Gazipur, Bangladesh
• 2008 - Honorary Doctor of Science Degree, University of Santiago de Compostela
• 2010 - The Hind Rattan (Jewel of India) Award
• 2014 - 2015 - Fulbright–Nehru Distinguished Chair Award[20]
• 2014 - Outstanding Research Award, Society of American Foresters[21]