He teaches Philosophy at the Mahindra United World College of India (MUWCI) in Pune and is also the head of the Humanities Department there. His passion is to help save the environment and what better way to do it than start with your own backyard. In his case it’s the 170 acre campus of the college where he teaches. Meet professor Hector Andrade.

Working on a budget of Rs.1 crore, his venture called the Van Vihar biodiversity park, started around two years back, is today thriving with flora and fauna.

As you wind your way to the village of Puad, in the Taluka Mulshi region of Maharastra, 40 Kms from the city of Pune, you arrive at the Mahindra United World College of India (MUWCI) campus, started in 1996-97. The Bio-diversity Park, consisting of about 75 acres, includes the built up area of the college and consists of diverse flora and walking trails with informative signage for the benefit of students, visitors, researchers, etc.
The college has started a project to create a biodiversity reserve from much of the open land on campus. Its policy is to encourage environmental protection and to foster awareness for one's surroundings. Spearheading this movement to restore the land is Hector Andrade and his team of volunteers and students who are helping with their time and energy.

“The primary aim of the project is to enhance the already existing species of flora and fauna in this part of the Western Ghats which environmentalists world wide call a biodiversity hotspot,” said Hector.

Hector has visualized, planned and created the biodiversity park and the process is continuing with the support of the Mahindra group. He had persuaded Anand Mahindra to give up a disused Helipad at the MUWCI campus so that he could set-up a geodesic dome to house his precious collection of succulents, orchids and other rare variety of plants that he gathers during his visits in and around Pune and from other parts of the country.
Unique to this reserve is a medicinal plants garden with a collection of over 300 medicinal plants. The fauna consists of 130 species of birds, 160 species of moths, 60 species of butterflies, and 30 species of higher mammals.

“We acquired a one-tree campus ten years ago, which has been transformed into a thriving forest with hundreds of species of native plants.” That tree still stands – it’s a mango tree. Forest officials recently notified 80 more acres as part of the reserve.

Taking us on a personal tour of the Biodiversity Park, Hector explains in detail where each plant came from, its botanical name, and if it has any medicinal properties. His programme is to have different sections in the biodiversity park which house – medicinal plants, fruits bearing trees, a bird trail, a butterfly garden, and a special walkway, called the labyrinth - a walking meditation pathway, a sacred grove – “as human beings, we have great difficulty in quieting our minds. An ancient tool called a labyrinth/sacred grove can assist us as we meditate or pray by uniting our mind, body, and soul”.

The Biodiversity Park was recently inaugurated by Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh on February 9, 2008 and dedicated to the nation.

The great American thinker Henry David Thoreau’s legacy continues with professors such as Hector Andrade. The Walden Woods Project preserves the land, literature and legacy of Henry David Thoreau to foster an ethic of environmental stewardship and social responsibility. The project achieves this mission through the integration of conservation, education and research. Excerpts from an interview Sharath Ahuja conducted with Hector Andrade:

What was the initial spark that led to the starting of the VAN VIHAR The Bio-Diversity park?

My grandfather was farmer/banker and so I have a farming background. So the love for plants comes along with the genes, and my parents are both plant lovers so I got the passion for plants from them. I have been planting trees and looking after gardens all my life.

When I came to MUWCI I found that the landscapers (the college was three years old then) had planted all kinds of exotic trees which were not only difficult to maintain but also did not encourage too many native fauna. So we started off as a group of faculty members who started encouraging native species to grow. There was an idea to increase the green cover of the college and to build a few check dams, etc. But the funds were not really there.
Two years ago, in fact in April, I was attending the college board of governors meeting in Mumbai, when Anand Mahindra asked me what I would do to make the college more attractive to both faculty and students. I got my chance.

I at once suggested that the college campus could be converted into a biodiversity park and the 90 acres of barren land lying unused could be converted into a forest reserve. He liked the idea a great deal and told me to submit a proposal which I did without any delay at the following board meeting. The idea was accepted and Uday Kotak, also a member of the board assured me that he would arrange for the funding.

So then began the task of implementation. As you have seen  with your own eyes, we have achieved a lot in less than two years.

How did the idea for the Geodesic Dome come about?

The idea came from Anand Mahindra. I wanted a kind of a greenhouse that would help the plants that cannot stand the excessive rainfall here. He suggested that I go in for an attractive structure which would be a centre piece for the reserve and we got the architects to design one for us.

How did you go about planning the park?

I knew that there were certain things I certainly wanted: namely waterbodies for rainwater harvesting which would also create certain water-ecosystems, specific trails (bird trail, tree trail, etc.) for visitors to walk around and enjoy, various kinds of gardens, namely, medicinal plants, butterfly garden, cacti garden, palm garden, sacred grove,etc. So the question was how to locate these.

I love walking and my wife and I have scoured every inch of the campus land and we kind of knew the terrain very well, especially in terms of how the monsoon affects the land, where do streams normally flow, which areas get water-logged,etc. so it wasn't very difficult to know what would go where and so I designed a blueprint for the park and started to execute it step by step.

Do you see many such biodiversity parks being planned by other organisations/corporate houses.. have they sought your help?

I think every institution (esp. schools and colleges) should set up such parks. There are a number of colleges that have shown interest. We are helping the Mercedes Benz International School in Pune to set up a medicinal garden. The social forestry department has also sought our help to set up biodiversity park in Pune city. The question of course is one of funding. If more corporates saw this as their social responsibility there would be no dearth of funds.

Hector Andrade can be contacted at hector@muwci.net or on phone at 97 6444 2751/52/53/54/55 ext. 164 (O)