CHRIS CHADWELL - freelance botanist, lecturer, educator, photographer, leader of 24 expeditions to the Himalaya, anachronism & GENUINE conservationist; his hard-won expertise on the flora of the NW Himalaya & borderlands of Western Tibet is unrivalled, yet, sadly, largely going to waste - he is in the unenviable position of telling the truth, whilst the world's major botanical institutions sit by. There is no reward in this world for being either a gentle man or gentleman. Plants cannot be conserved in the wild (or cultivation for that matter), if they are not correctly identified in the first place with their abundance or rarity reliably recorded (which is not happening: rubbish is being put into data-bases/computers, so rubbish comes out; it is impossible to discover whether a species is rare or abundant, sat in an office or by copying century-old records, which is widespread in the Indian sub-continent, resulting in unreliable floras!). Chris places truth and accuracy first, being unconventional, with a mind-of-his own, essential if one is to speak up & out against serious wrong-doing, prepared to be an unpopular whistle-blower. Chris cares deeply about the flora, environment and peoples of the Himalaya and the rest of the world - he cannot ignore the corruption, idleness, incompetence, downright FAKE botany prevalent in India, in particular, which international bodies turn a blind eye to; whether printed checklists and floras or on-line data-bases, those for districts, regions or all of India, typically are riddled with errors/misidentifications, from 20-50%, which should be unacceptable but has been happening for decades. Indian botanists put quantity first not quality/reliability - university staff are judged by the number of articles and books they publish, even of awful standard published in laughable journals. Most people would be shocked at what really goes on - not that they could care less! e-mail: chrischadwell261@btinternet.com 'The White Mountain' (Dhaulagiri), Mustang Himalaya, Nepal © Chris Chadwell 'West Himalayan Blue-poppy' (Meconopsis aculeata) in the NW Himalaya © Chris Chadwell Chris engaged with a conversation about Tibetan Medicinal Plants with a lama (Buddhist monk) © Chris Chadwell _____________________________________________________________________________________________________ TALKS/DIGITAL PRESENTATIONS delivered by Chris - no longer available Chris cares deeply about the flora, environment and peoples of the Himalaya (indeed the whole world's flora, people & environment) - he has been reluctant in the past to speak out but must state that the hill and mountain villagers along the Himalaya are being let down badly by their corrupt national and regional governments, officials, botanists, botanic gardens, institutions, in the Indian sub-continent and UK; famous figures shed only crocodile tears whilst extravagantly endorsing con-artists! As for the BBC, they ignore these legitimate concerns, having resources to spend time falsely portraying Chris as some sort of villain! Why is that? Read the over-whelming evidence of serious wrong-doing contained in this web-site and judge for yourself. We stand no chance of saving the world's flora (and thus habitats and their fauna) if our scientists and senior figures cannot be trusted! YES, IT IS THAT BAD ..... Surely this cannot be true? Kindly take the time to read the evidence on this web-site. What purpose would be served by Chris not being accurate and truthful? As an Italian doctor in charge of 'The Cultivation of Medicinal Plants for Traditional Medicine Project' he worked on as a consultant to the Royal Government of Bhutan observed, "You know too much"; it pays to be informed ... -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- EMPOWER THE PEOPLES OF THE HIMALAYA..... THIS NEPALESE GIRL (LOOKING AFTER HER YOUNGER BROTHER) DESERVE A BETTER FUTURE - MANY DONATIONS HAVE BEEN WASTED, AS TOO MANY CHARITIES ARE FAKE AND MANY GOVERNMENTS AND THEIR OFFICIALS IN THE INDIAN SUB-CONTINENT CANNOT BE TRUSTED..... SO BE 'STREET-WISE' AND SUPPORT THE BEST CHARITIES AND PROJECTS WHICH, AS THE BRITAIN-NEPAL MEDICAL TRUST STATES, HELPS 'EMPOWER' THE PEOPLE OF NEPAL. ASK CHRIS TO RECOMMEND THE BEST CHARITIES, AS HE HAS BECOME STREET-WISE, THROUGH DECADES OF FIRST-HAND EXPERIENCE. __________________________________________________________________________ WHAT IS THIS WEB-SITE REALLY ABOUT? TRYING TO BRING OUT THE BEST IN PEOPLE..... CHRIS IS 'A FRIEND OF THE PEOPLES OF THE HIMALAYA' AND THE WORLD'S FLORA. THEY BOTH NEED A VOICE. NATURE CONSERVATION REMAINS IN ITS INFANCY IN TOO MANY REGIONS OF THE WORLD. INTERNATIONAL CONSERVATION BODIES NEED TO MAKE IMPROVEMENTS IN THEIR APPROACH. BOTH LOCAL PEOPLE AND RARE FLORA ARE BEING "LET DOWN". THE PRESENT SITUATION IS UNSATISFACTORY AND CAN ONLY IMPROVE IF THIS IS FACED UP TO.... INTERNATIONAL PRESSURE NEEDS TO BE APPLIED. SHAME ON THOSE WHO IGNORE WHAT CHRIS IS DRAWING ATTENTION TO...... Chris outside a trekking lodge in Nepal - the little girl was determined not to smile .... © Chris Chadwell ............................................................................................................................................................................................................................... INCREDIBLE INDIA ....................... The admirable sentiments above of India's first prime minister after Independence in 1947, inscribed below his statue in Manali, Himachal Pradesh, Northern India. The world would be a better place if every nation and individual citizen in the world, adopted such a philosophy. How many Indian or foreign tourists passing by this statue, actually read it or appreciate the significance of the words? Chris is a FRIEND of India (consistent with drawing attention to wrong-doing in this country and bordering ones) and wishes to see India become MIGHTY as Nehru intended 70 years ago; Indians COULD become the envy of the world, IF they followed Nehru's advice ... ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ PHOTOGRAPHS ON THIS WEB-SITE COPYRIGHT ABUSE/STOLEN IMAGES - sadly, Chris is increasingly locating examples of his photographic images being used without permission or acknowledgement. So much for his innocent objective of 'sharing' knowledge! What a world of cheats, which include a UK charity (which also makes FALSE scientific claims), a North American commercial seller of seed and a Kashmir travel company; one of the culprits told Chris that they have seen his images "all over the place" - so much for his expectation of 'Gentlemanly behaviour" from others ...... Looks like he may be forced to water-mark his images in future. So be ULTRA CAUTIOUS. An important life lesson is that you CANNOT TRUST ANYBODY © Chris Chadwell 2021 |