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<p>This work is an attempt to understand the complexities of the environmental history of Kerala from ancient till the modern period. A major transformation in the environment of Kerala happened with the British colonial rule. They introduced a new forest policy which collected maximum timber from the Western Ghats for further advancement in the British empire. Colonial forest policies were almost similar in the colonial district of Malabar and the princely states of Cochin and Travancore. They were engaged in monocrop plantations in the ecologically fragile hills and game hunting in the forest regions of Kerala. Later agrarian migration inside Travancore and Cochin and the largescale settlement of people in Malabar from Central Travancore also drastically changed the land use pattern in Kerala. The ‘Grow More Food’ campaign of the government in the postindependent period and other support of the government and nongovernmental agencies assisted small scale farmers to reclaim the uncultivated land in the highlands for the extensive expansion of agriculture. However the environment of Kerala also underwent drastic changes due to the urbanization process. The state began to experience environmental crisis with the great flood in Munnar in 1924. The establishment of forestbased industries and the subsequent deforestation and water pollution also threatened the state’s ecological balance. Similarly the expansion of tourism industry sand mining industrial pollution usage of pesticides and water exploitation also endangered the environment. Moreover the state also witnessed several movements for the protection of environment in the second half of the twentieth century in order to save Western Ghats Silent Valley and Athirappally region which are unparallel in the environmental history of India. About the Author Joshy Mathew obtained his Ph.D. from Kannur University and teaches History at Pazhassiraja College Pulpally University of Calicut. He served as the member of Board of Studies in History and Christian Studies in the University of Calicut. He has done significant research in the area of agrarian migration tribal issues educational development environmental history and missiology. He has completed research projects under the UGC ICSSR ICHR KCHR KSHEC and the Ministry of Culture Government of India. He has published nearly 20 articles across national journals and edited volumes. He is the author of Tradition Migration and Transformation and he coauthored a book Development of Education in Colonial and PostColonial Malabar.</p>
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