Somidh Saha

Date of Birth: 10.10.1981

Marital Status: Married

Nationality: Indian

Education:

• B.Sc. in Zoology (Honours), Chemistry and Human Physiology from the Presidency College, University of Calcutta, India in 2003.
• M.Sc. in Forestry, specialization in Forest Economics and Forest Management from the Forest Research Institute, Dehradun, India in 2005

Training:

• International Summer School on “Forestry Market and Society” organised by the Institute of Forest Utilization and Workscience of the University of Freiburg in July 2006
• “Total Quality Management” by Anaar International,Virginia,USA and Ballarpur Industries Limited (BILT) India in October 2006
• German Language Course (completed B1 level) from Goethe Institute-Calcutta and Goethe Institute-Mannheim Heidelberg from April to September 2008

Work Experience:

• From January 2005 to June 2005: Worked as Research Intern for doing Master’s dissertation at the Eastern Himalayan Program of Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment (ATREE) and IUCN. Key responsibilities:
1. Study on traditional uses of medicinal plants among the Monpa tribe of India-China border region at the Eastern Himalayas.
2. Study on traditional management of Oak forest (Quercus pachyphylla and Q. lamellosa) at the Eastern Himalayas

• From July 2005 to May 2008: Worked as Forest Manager (Executive level) at India’s largest paper and pulp company the Ballarpur Industries Limited (BILT).Key responsibilities:
1. Procurement of pulpwood and bamboo from Government forest and private plantations and sourcing to factory.
2. Management of bamboo “brakes” (Dendrocalamus strictus and Bambusa arundinacea) through proper silvicultural practices at 92000 hectares dry deciduous Sal (Shorea robusta) forest in East Central India.
3. Development of Eucalyptus and Acacia clonal plantations through “Farm Forestry” in East Central India.

Completed Project:

• Role of women in joint forest management at Arabari forest of the West Midnapore forest division in South West-Bengal,India.(2004)
• Role of traditional ecological knowledge in natural resource management among the Dirang Monpas of the Arunachal Pradesh of the Eastern Himalayas.(2005)
• Traditional Utilization of the Himalayan medicinal shrubs and wildlife articles among the Monpas and Panchenpas at the Indo-China border region at Arunachal Pradesh in the Eastern Himalayas.(2005)
• The Bamboo value chain in East India.(2006)
• Scope of sourcing Eucalyptus solidwood from Uruguay, Argentina, Brazil, South Africa and Papua New Guinea to Vietnam(2007)

Scholarship:

• T S Sterling Scholarship in B.Sc. studies at the Presidency Collge,Calcutta,India.
• DAAD scholarship for summer school in University of Freiburg 2006
• DAAD scholarship for PhD study in University of Freiburg in 2008

Publication:

• Saha, S. and Bisht N. S. 2007. Role of traditional ecological knowledge in natural resourcemanagement among Monpas of North-Western Arunachal Pradesh, Indian Forester 133 (2):155-164
• Banerjee, A.K. and Saha, S 2004. Role of women in joint forest management at Arabari forest (EastMidnapore forest division) of South-West Bengal , International Journal of Forest Usufruct Management 5 (1 & 2):56-64

Interest: Hiking and Trekking