Dr.

Anil Prakash Joshi is an environmentalist, green activist, and

the founder of Himalayan Environmental Studies and
Conservation Organization (HESCO), a Dehradun-based
voluntary organization. His work majorly includes developing
sustainable technologies that are ecology inclusive economy for
ecosystem development. He has coined GEP (gross
environmental product), an ecological growth measure parallel to
GDP. GEP has been accepted as a growth measure by the state
of Uttarakhand on 5 June 2021. He was selected as the man of
the year by Week Magazine in 2003. He is a recipient of
the Jamnalal Bajaj Award and is an Ashoka Fellow. The
Government of India awarded him the fourth highest civilian
honour of the Padma Shri, in 2006, for his contributions to Indian
society. He was also awarded Padma Bhushan, third highest
civilian award in 2020 for environmental conservation
in Uttarakhand. Dr. Joshi appeared in the Kaun Banega Crorepati,
Karamveer episode aired on 25 December 2020.

Biography[edit]
Dr. Anil Prakash Joshi was born on 6 April 1955 at Kotdwar,
in Pauri Garhwal district, in the present day Uttarakhand state of
India in a family of farmers[1] and secured a master's degree in
botany and a doctoral degree in ecology.[2] He started his career
as a member of faculty at the Kotdwar Government PG College
but resigned the job in 1979 and founded Himalayan
Environmental Studies and Conservation Organization (HESCO),
a non-governmental organization. Under the aegis of HESCO,
Joshi promoted research and development of new environment-
friendly technologies for the agricultural sector, tapping the local
resources. He is supported by a team of 30 people, and the group
is known to have been involved in the dissemination of knowledge
on eco-friendly techniques and technologies[3] in 40 villages in the
state.[4] His concept of gross environmental product has since
been adopted by the State Government.[5]
Dr. Joshi has launched several social programmes, based on
resource-based rural development, such as Women Technology
Park, Technology Intervention for Mountain-Eco
System, Ecological Food Mission in Mountain and Women's
Initiative for Self Employment (WISE)[6][1] and has been reported to
be successful in providing the villages with water mills,
composting pits, toilets, plan-based drugs and herbal pesticides
and rainwater harvesting techniques.[4] Finding uses for a local
shrub, Kurri, which had been considered a weed, by utilising it for
making furniture, incense sticks and using the left-overs as fodder
was one initiative developed by Joshi.[7] He is credited with over
60 articles and ten books on the subject.[1]
Ashoka, the social entrepreneurial network, elected him as their
Fellow in 1993.[4] The Indian Science Congress awarded him the
Jawaharlal Nehru Award in 1999 and The Week magazine
selected him as the Man of the Year in 2002.[1] The Government
of India included him in the 2006 Republic Day Honours list for
the civilian award of the Padma Shri and the same year, he
received the Jamnalal Bajaj Award for his efforts in
the application of science and technology for rural development.[8]