The Indian Association of Soil and Water Conservationists (IASWC) was established in 1972 at Dehradun, as a non-profit making body to encourage wise land use planning and conservation of soil and water resources so that these basic resources can be utilized to sustain mankind. The utilization of both, the renewable and non-renewable resources of the country is primarily the responsibility of scientists and conservation professionals, who understand the natural ecosystem processes and also of policy makers who make laws that influence the use and misuse of the basic resources of soil, water and vegetation. The Indian Association of Soil and Water Conservationists resorts itself through its members to serve as a forum of scientists, conservation professionals, administrators and policy makers in assessing the need for soil and water conservation and watershed management.
Aims and Objectives:
- To promote and disseminate the knowledge, practice and research in the science and technology of Soil and Water Conservation.
- To encourage free exchange of ideas amongst those contributing to the advancement of Soil and Water Conservation such as Agronomists, Agrostologists, Ecologists, Engineers, Foresters, Geologists, Land Users and Soil Scientists etc. by organizing symposia, lectures and bringing out literature etc.
Affairs of the Association:
The affairs of the Association are managed by an Executive Council in accordance with the Constitution of the Association. The council consists of President, Vice Presidents, Chief Editor, Secretary, Treasurer, Business Manager and Members. The normal term of each elected member of the Council is 2 years.
Members:
All persons engaged directly or indirectly in any aspect of soil and water conservation and any institution, society etc., engaged in this regard can become members of the Association. In addition, honorary members are elected from amongst eminent persons in the field of natural resource conservation. Election of the honorary members is governed by the byelaws framed by the Executive Council and approved by the General Body. Till date, The IASWC has 1998 life members, nearly 80 Institutional members and 22 ordinary members.
Activities of the Association
Publication of Indian Journal of Soil Conservation: During the last four decades, the Indian Journal of Soil Conservation (IJSC) made its journey starting in humble beginning during 1973 as a Soil Conservation Digest (Vol. 1 (1973) to Vol. 5 (1977). It was renamed as Indian Journal of Soil Conservation w.e.f. Vol. 6 (1978). The papers published in the Journal initially in first two decades covered the topics on appraisal on erosion hazards, soil erosion maps of different states of the country followed by the erosion losses, processes, studies and measures to control erosion etc. With the advancement of the time, the journals covered its onward journey with the papers on diverse and timely topics viz., farming system research, degraded land management, agroforestry and land use planning and remote sensing in relation to natural resource conservation and the scope of the journal broaden. The journal published by the IASWC is peer reviewed and is critically edited for its quality and contents. From 1973 till date (December, 2014) the IASWC has published 45(1) volumes covering research papers on various themes.
Online Publication of IJSC: Online publication of IJSC was initiated from March, 2010 and presently all the issues are available online with indianjournals.com upto till date.