Claude Alphonso Alvares is an Indian

environmentalist An environmentalist is a person who is concerned with and/or advocates for the protection of the environment. An environmentalist can be considered a supporter of the goals of the environmental movement, "a political and ethical movement that se ...

based in

Goa Goa () is a state on the southwestern coast of India within the Konkan region, geographically separated from the Deccan highlands by the Western Ghats. It is located between the Indian states of Maharashtra to the north and Karnataka to the ...

. Alvares is the editor of the Other India Press and Director of the

Goa Foundation The Goa Foundation is an Indian environmental action group. One of the best known in Goa, it was founded in 1986 by a group of Goan environmentalists each fighting individual environmental battles, the organisation today holds influence with the jud ...

, an environmental monitoring action group that has filed successful

public interest litigation The chief instrument through which judicial activism has flourished in India is public interest litigation (PIL) or social action litigation (SAL). ''Public interest litigation'' (PIL) refers to litigation undertaken to secure public interest and de ...

cases. Alvares is a member of the Goa Coastal Zone Management Authority of the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF). He is also a member of the Supreme Court Monitoring Committee (SCMC) on

Hazardous Wastes Hazardous waste is waste that has substantial or potential threats to public health or the environment. Hazardous waste is a type of dangerous goods. They usually have one or more of the following hazardous traits: ignitability, reactivity, cor ...

constituted by the

Supreme Court of India The Supreme Court of India ( IAST: ) is the supreme judicial authority of India and is the highest court of the Republic of India under the constitution. It is the most senior constitutional court, has the final decision in all legal matters ...

Early life

Alvares was born in

Bombay Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the second- ...

Mangalorean Catholic Mangalorean Catholics ( kok, Kōdiyālcheñ Kathōlikā) are an ethno-religious community of Latin Catholics in India typically residing in the Diocese of Mangalore in the erstwhile South Canara area, by the southwestern coast of present-day K ...

parents. He grew up in Khotachiwadi and attended St. Xavier's College, where he meet his future wife

Norma Norma may refer to: * Norma (given name), a given name (including a list of people with the name) Astronomy *Norma (constellation) * 555 Norma, a minor asteroid *Cygnus Arm or Norma Arm, a spiral arm in the Milky Way galaxy Geography *Norma, Lazi ...

. In 1976, Alvares completed a PhD from the School of Philosophy and Social Sciences at the

Eindhoven University of Technology The Eindhoven University of Technology ( nl, Technische Universiteit Eindhoven), abbr. TU/e, is a public technical university in the Netherlands, located in the city of Eindhoven. In 2020–21, around 14,000 students were enrolled in its BSc a ...

. He and his family moved to

in 1977. After starting a short-lived rural development project, Alvares began writing for

The Illustrated Weekly of India ''The Illustrated Weekly of India'' was an English-language weekly newsmagazine publication in India. It started publication in 1880 (as ''Times of India'' Weekly Edition; later renamed as ''The Illustrated Weekly of India'' in 1923) and ceasin ...

while Norma studied law. She completed her degree in 1985.

Goa Foundation

In 1986, the

Parliament of India The Parliament of India (International Alphabet of Sanskrit Transliteration, IAST: ) is the supreme legislative body of the Republic of India. It is a bicameralism, bicameral legislature composed of the president of India and two houses: the R ...

passed the Environmental Protection Act. Together with like-minded Goans, the Alvares founded the

in that same year to increase societal awareness and combat evasion of the new environmental standards. In 1987, the Foundation filed its first

case against sand miners who were causing erosion of the local beaches; represented in court by Adv.

Ferdino Rebello Ferdino Rebello (born 31 August 1949), is an Indian jurist, former Chief Justice of the Allahabad High Court, former judge of the Bombay High Court, and a former Member of the Legislative Assembly of Goa, Daman and Diu. Education Rebello com ...

, the Foundation was successful in halting this activity. The Foundation also filed cases against Ramada and other beach resort developers who were flouting building codes.

Other activism

Alvares has campaigned against

genetically modified crops Genetically modified crops (GM crops) are plants used in agriculture, the DNA of which has been modified using genetic engineering methods. Plant genomes can be engineered by physical methods or by use of ''Agrobacterium'' for the delivery of ...

. His 1986

Illustrated Weekly of India ''The Illustrated Weekly of India'' was an English-language weekly newsmagazine publication in India. It started publication in 1880 (as ''Times of India'' Weekly Edition; later renamed as ''The Illustrated Weekly of India'' in 1923) and ceasin ...

article "The Great Gene Robbery" criticized the U.S.-funded

International Rice Research Institute The International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) is an international agricultural research and training organization with its headquarters in Los Baños, Laguna, in the Philippines, and offices in seventeen countries. IRRI is known for its wor ...

's program to replace indigenous crop varieties with their own less-robust ones. He also opposed

Monsanto The Monsanto Company () was an American agrochemical and agricultural biotechnology corporation founded in 1901 and headquartered in Creve Coeur, Missouri. Monsanto's best known product is Roundup, a glyphosate-based herbicide, developed in th ...

's attempts to market genetically-modified versions of vegetables such as

brinjal Eggplant ( US, Canada), aubergine ( UK, Ireland) or brinjal (Indian subcontinent, Singapore, Malaysia, South Africa) is a plant species in the nightshade family Solanaceae. ''Solanum melongena'' is grown worldwide for its edible fruit. Mo ...

. Alvares founded the Other India Bookstore in

Mapusa Mapusa (म्हापशें) is a town in North Goa, India. It is situated 13 km north of the capital Panaji. The town is the headquarters of Bardez Taluka. It is located on the main highway NH-17, linking Mumbai to Kochi. In Portugue ...

during the 80's; in 1990, he also founded Other India Press to publish books on

organic farming Organic farming, also known as ecological farming or biological farming,Labelling, article 30 o''Regulation (EU) 2018/848 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 30 May 2018 on organic production and labelling of organic products and re ...

homeschooling Homeschooling or home schooling, also known as home education or elective home education (EHE), is the education of school-aged children at home or a variety of places other than a school. Usually conducted by a parent, tutor, or an onlin ...

, and the environment.

Personal life

Alvares lives at

Parra Parra (Hebrew language, Hebrew: ''גפן'') is a Spanish, Portuguese, and also Jewish surname, meaning grapevine or Trellis (architecture), trellis, for example, a pergola. It is taken from the word meaning latticework and the vines raised on it ...

with his wife

Padma Sri Padma Shri ( IAST: ''padma śrī''), also spelled Padma Shree, is the fourth-highest civilian award of the Republic of India, after the Bharat Ratna, the Padma Vibhushan and the Padma Bhushan. Instituted on 2 January 1954, the award is conferr ...

Norma Alvares, an environmental lawyer and their three children, Rahul, Samir and Milind.

Writings

Author

* ''Homo faber: technology and culture in India, China and the West from 1500 to the present day'', The Hague tc. Nijhoff, 1980, New edition: The Hague tc. Nijhoff, 2007 - Indian edition: ''De-Colonizing History: Technology and Culture in India, China and the West: 1492 to the Present Day'', - The Other India Press, Goa, 1991 - Paperback Edition: ''Decolonizing History: Technology and Culture in India, China and the West 1492 to the Present Day'', Apex Press, 3rd edition 1991, *"The Great Gene Robbery", published in the

in 1986. * "Science", in: ''The Development Dictionary'', ed. by

Wolfgang Sachs Wolfgang Sachs (; born 25 November 1946) is a researcher, writer and university teacher in the field of environment, development, and globalization. Biography Sachs studied sociology and Catholic theology in Munich, Tübingen and Berkeley. He h ...

, London and New Jersey: Zed Books, 1992, pp. 219–232 * ''Science, development and violence. the revolt against modernity'', Delhi tc. Oxford University Press, 1992
"Goa may be worse than Bellary"
''Deccan Herald'', Bangalore, 2 October 2011

Editor

* ''Another Revolution Fails: Investigation into How and Why India's Operation Flood Project Went Off the Rails'', Ajanta Publications 1987, * ''Unwanted guest: Goans v/s Du Pont'', Mapusa: Other India Press, 1991 * (with Merryl Wyn-Davis) ''The Blinded Eye: 500 Years of Christopher Columbus'', Other India Press, 1993 * ''Organic Farming Source Book'', Other India Press, 1996 * ''Fish Curry and Rice - a source book on Goa, its ecology and life-style'', 4. rev. ed., Mapusa: Goa Foundation, 2002, * ''Multiversity: Freeing Children from the Tyranny of Schooling'', Other India Press, 2006,

References

External links

*
Goa Foundation

Other India Bookstore

Multiversity

Green Goa Works

Organic Farming Association of India
{{DEFAULTSORT:Alvares, Claude Living people Writers from Goa Indian non-fiction environmental writers Eindhoven University of Technology alumni Indian editors Indian technology writers 20th-century Indian non-fiction writers Indian botanical writers Year of birth missing (living people)