New Delhi:Carl Zeiss Wildlife Conservation Awards were held on March 7 2008, at the India Habitat Centre amidst a gathering of eminent people.
Since 2001, this event is held annually, where wildlife conservationists, as identified by an expert panel led by Valmik Thapar, are recognized for their achievements.
This year, it's five young naturalists who have made it to the 'Carl Zeiss Roll of Honour for Excellence in Wildlife Conservation 2008'.
"It is wonderful to see the young naturalists being acknowledged. It means that young people of this country are sensitive to their environment," said Kapil Sibal, Hon'ble Union Minister of Science and Technology and Earth Sciences. The conservation awards were given to:
Dr Anish Andheria has been rescuing wild animals like snakes, eagles, owls and even crocodiles since the past 18 years. It was after his PhD in Surface Chemistry, when he followed his heart's desire and completed masters in in Wildlife Biology and Conservation with a specialization in large carnivores.
Today he regularly assists Dr Ullas Karanth, WCS-India for estimating the tiger and its prey densities in various tiger reserves. "We are losing wildlife at a far rapid rate. We need to have a mass movement. If we are late, we won't have any tigers left," says a concerned Anish. He has worked with Sanctuary Asia since 2001 where he founded 'Kids For Tigers' — a conservation education programme that reaches to 550 schools in 20 cities.
Faiyaz Khudsar received the award for his pioneering work in developing Kuno Wildlife Sanctuary for the Asiatic Lion Reintroduction Programme. Today the 'king of jungle' is in peril as it has just one natural home left — the Gir forest. Faiyaz has monitored wildlife population in Kuno Wildlife Sanctuary, Madhya Pradesh — the proposed alternative home for the lion. He did extensive research on the techniques for the translocation of Nilgai to this forest. He has also assisted MP Forest Department for the rehabilitation of the villages from Kuno. Apart from pursuing his PhD on biodiversity and prey base estimation in Kuno Wildlife Sanctuary, he is also the Scientist-in-Charge of the Yamuna Biodiversity Park, Delhi.
Koustubh Sharma’s major work has been in Panna Tiger Reserve, where he spent four years carrying out extensive field research on the ecology, distribution and behaviour of four-horned antelope, or the Chowsingha, as a part of his PhD dissertation. "I studied the four-horned antelope since the species was never studied before. We had no references. Whatever we were doing, was coming out first time ever," adds Koustubh. He uses his knowledge of Physics to the benefit of the wildlife through Geographical Information System (GIS), and Ecological and GIS Modelling. He has also worked on monitoring Snow Leopards in Ladakh.
Uttara Mendiratta is a post graduate in Biology and Conservation. Mendiratta has mainly concentrated her work on illegal wildlife trade, wildlife policy and awareness. She has held the post of Senior Conservation Officer, Wildlife Protection Society of India (WPSI) team that investigated trade of tiger skins, ivory and other endangered species in China. She has actively campaigned against illegal wildlife trade at international forums. She feels that saving the wildlife is not one man's job and a lot more needs to be done in wildlife conservation. For her this award is a reminder to work even harder during this time of crisis.
Rahul Alvares authored books like Free From School and The Call of Snake at the age of 23. He has a Master's Degree in Ecology and Environmental Sciences, and has worked at the Pune Snake Park with renowned snake expert Romulus Whitaker, learning about snakes, crocodiles, turtles and lizards. He is trained in handling venomous snakes and has rescued more than 1000 snakes till date. He works as a wildlife consultant with many of the five star hotels in Goa and trains the staff to rescue snakes in emergency so that the strayed snakes are not killed in those properties.
These are the young people who have embarked on a journey to protect the India's wild. "This is Generation X which has to take new challenges, create new initiatives, confront the system and disseminate the truth from the lie. So it is really important that the young generation learns, is acknowledged and moves forward," adds Tiger Expert Valmik Thapar.
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