I have just received a copy of the February 2018 Newsletter of Himalayan Botany. The first article is entitled 'Plant collecting in Bajura District, Far West Nepal, August 2017'. This gives an account of an expedition which collected botanical pressed specimens for Edinburgh Botanic Garden herbarium and seed for the National Botanic Garden, Godawari - the team consisted of Colin A. Pendry, William Hinchcliffe & Matthew Jackson from Edinburgh Botanic Garden, Scotland; Hiroshi Ikeda, University Museum, University of Tokyo, Japan; Jeevan Pandey, Department of Plant resources, Kathmandu, Nepal and Polina Gudkova from Department of Botany, Altai State University, Russia.
This comes as rather a surprise, given the comments of Dr Watson from Edinburgh Botanic Garden within Navin Singh Khadka's article (see: https://sites.google.com/a/shpa.org.uk/main/flawed-tabloid-level-on-line-bbc-article). In it, it is claimed that collecting seed harms the environment and deprives local people of the benefits from the trade of plants. So why is it OK for Edinburgh Botanic Garden staff to collect seed in the Himalaya? Clearly, double-standards apply. Either seed-collecting does or does not harm the environment. IF it does, why is it OK for Scottish botanists to do it.
As to the collection of seed, whilst it is claimed this is solely for Godawari, the authors of the article let slip that seed of at least one plant will be finding its way back to Scotland (probably others as well). And they cannot have asked permission in advance to collect the one item admitted to, because it is thought to be a new species!
Since the above article on BBC on-line was published and the lies have caused me so much distress, Dr Watson has not contacted me, which leads me to conclude he supports the lies and sentiments expressed in it. Perhaps he should contact the BBC, admit his guilt and advise Mr Khadka to start investigating Edinburgh Botanic Garden and the Department of Plant Resources in Nepal but of course Khadka is not good at investigating is own people. Perhaps the reason Mr Khadka has not pursued the real activities which are damaging the environment of the Himalaya, particularly its flora (see: https://sites.google.com/a/shpa.org.uk/main/greatest-risk-to-rare-himalayan-flora-being-dug-up-by-indian-botanists) is that he has received bribes, not to do so? I did ask Mr Khadka if he had ever paid bribes but I never got the courtesy of a response but after he failed to answer numerous questions I put to him. I wonder why? He seemed to think that because he worked for the BBC, he was some sort of God and could do exactly as he wished....