LIFETIME SERVICE AWARD
We were in search of a truly inspirational being whose life was inseparable from The rough and tumble mission of wildlife and nature protection. Someone who would listen to everyone, then do what was best for the tiger and tigerland. In a world that has virtually abandoned ethics we found an ethical man whose blind faith in nature makes him stand out like a sentinel for all who search for meaning in a world going wrong.
MAHESH KUMAR JIWRAJKA
Mahesh Kumar Jiwrajka has probably been more directly responsible for saving wildife habitats in India than virtually any other individual in the past few years. A part of the Indian Forest Service (IFS) for over three decades, despite his mammoth contribution to wildlife, he is probably one of India's least-known wildlife defenders because he refuses to claim credit for victories and, apart from those who have directly worked with him, or crossed swords with him, few even know he exists. Yet, he is a virtual encyclopedia of forest laws, a green legal eagle who could probably teach many a lawyer about the nuances of India's environmental laws. After serving the Maharashtra and Central Governments in various roles, he was appointed Member Secretary of the Supreme Court's Central Empowered Committee (CEC) in 2002, a position he has held ever since. Aware that wild species cannot possibly survive without untouched wild habitats, he turned ecosystem protection into the very purpose of his life. In 2009 he took early retirement from the IFS and is now identified totally with the CEC, which is mandated by the highest court in the land to protect India's biodiverse forests. A pro-active forest protector, his report to the Supreme Court in 2004 radically changed the management of India's forests, plugging the loopholes that politicians and administrators had left open to benefit those who profited from forest lands through mining, and other commerce. He was intimately involved in the decisions to protect, amongst others, the dense forests of Kudremukh and Niyamgiri from illegal mining. He is also credited with the establishment and management of India's Compensatory Afforestation Fund Management and Planning Authority, or CAMPA, arguably the largest forest restoration fund of its kind in the world at Rs. 18,000 crores. He has stopped illegal timber merchants. He has prevented bamboo forests from being turned to pulp. On a daily basis he prevents state governments from giving facile “no objection certificates" to destroy precious wildlife habitats for construction projects.
The list of his accomplishments is long and his mission he says is far from complete. This is why we have honoured him.
WILDLIFE SERVICE AWARDS
For the Sanctuary-RBS Wildlife Service Awards we were in search of inspired wildlifers, forest employees, researchers, villagers, or anyone currently involved in nature conservation in the field and who has set personal standards for others to follow.
TANA TAPI AND TAKUM NABUM
Tana Tapi, Divisional Forest Officer, Pakke Tiger Reserve, Arunachal Pradesh is just such a man. He and his team work in near impenetrable forests against all odds to protect a vital park and its wildlife. For six years now, he has been setting up anti-poaching infrastructure including 32 RCC camps, 65 km. of patrolling paths and 41 km. of rough motorable roads. These measures have reflected positively on tiger densities in Pakke. When he was posted to Pakke, the park was understaffed with just 25 people employed. Between 2005 and 2007, together with upgraded facilities, the departmental strength grew to 140 with as many as 24 active anti-poaching strike squads. Backed by a fearless and loyal team, he has led uncounted armed operations against poaching gangs. By involving the Ghora Aabhe or village fathers in his efforts, including the incredible Takum Nabum, he has made the community an integral part of forest protection. “Takum Nabum and the Nishi people must share any credit for Pakke's wildlife success because they, including women's self-help groups, are the Forest Department's eyes and ears. If his simple wisdom was replicated across the country, India would have a virtual army of wildlife defenders and flourishing forests," says Tana Tapi.
This is why we have honoured Tana Tapi and Takum Nabum.
WOMEN'S UNIT OF THE KAZIRANGA NATIONAL PARK: BIBHA SONOWAL, PALLABITA BORA, SWARNALATA BHUYAN AND ANITA DAS
Bibha Sonowal, Pallabita Bora, Swarnalata Bhuyan and Anita Das are courageous women forest guards of Kaziranga. Theirs is the very first team of female wildlife defenders in the park, they have been patrolling this world famous rhino and tiger forest for a year now. Their contribution far exceeds their role in checking crime by women operatives of the many armed poaching gangs that plunder this world famous wildlife reserve. Working in the same difficult conditions as their male counterparts, they conduct day and night patrols on foot and go out on raids, fiercely defending the wildlife in their charge.
They have shown courage and unstinting devotion to the wilds of Assam. This is why we have honoured them.
AJJINANDA THAMOO POOVAIAH
Ajjinanda Thamoo Poovaiah is a wildlife protector, businessman, activist and conservationist. Unable to stomach the devastation that unchecked tree felling was having on the Kodagu district of Karnataka, Poovaiah put together a network of local residents to fight against the all-powerful timber mafia 15 years ago. In the process he discovered to his dismay that there was a nexus between criminals and some forest officials. Under the banner of the Kodagu Ekikrana Ranga, Poovaiah and his team worked tirelessly to bring the accused to justice. In 2003, when he saw the same scam being perpetrated in Nagarahole, he worked to expose a six crore timber racket around a World Bank project that was stripping the forest. Pooavaiah subsequently co-founded an organisation called 'Living Inspiration for Tribals' or LIFT, to enlist locals into conservation by finding them employment in the Forest Department and helping those who opted for voluntary relocation out of the Nagarahole Tiger Reserve.
He has protected the forests of Kodagu against all odds. This is why we have honoured him.
ARTHI VENKATESHAM, BHUMANI VENKATESHAM AND DAMSAM MALLAIAH, CHENCHU FOREST GUARDS OF THE NAGARJUNASAGAR-SRISAILAM TIGER RESERVE
They are living proof that change is possible. Among our nation's most celebrated tribal communities, the Chenchus were once hunter gatherers. Instead of being lured by the all-powerful wildlife trade, these young men, more visionary than most of their urban counterparts, chose to join forces with forest officials as far back as 2001 and are now key to the park's anti-poaching strategy. These brave guards were instrumental in a massive crackdown on the deadly Bahelia poaching network, which proved to have links to the gangs that eliminated tigers from Sariska. Not only are they able to help retrieve traps and snares, they are also able to track poachers to their hideouts in the jungle with consummate skill. Researchers say that these tribal guards are able to provide them with in-depth information on the behaviour, hunting, nesting and breeding of various wild species. They also provide invaluable assistance in enumeration and monitoring meta populations, habitat viability and predator-prey analysis. As many as 300 Chenchu tribals are now part of the defence of the Nagarjunasagar Srisailam Tiger Reserve.
They have demonstrated that yesterday's traditions and skills can effectively be used to solve today's wildlife problems. This is why we have honoured them.
DR. GANESH VANKHEDE
He has been a protector of wildernesses for over three decades. As head of the post-graduate department of Zoology at the S.G.B Amravati University, he has critiqued several falsified Environment Impact Analysis, or EIA Reports by academicians paid to provide a justification for the destruction of tiger habitats. He has also authored many truthful EIA reports that prevented projects such as the Chikaldhara Pumped Storage Dam and the Upper Tapi Stage II Irrigation Project from destroying the Melghat Tiger Reserve and other wildernesses in Vidarbha. His 10 PhD and 23 M.Phil students are being oriented to follow his example. Thirteen books and countless published scientific papers later he continues to work close to the ground with the Satpuda Foundation and with students who are currently documenting the ecology of spiders.
He is knowledgeable, outspoken, generous and courageous in his defence of wildlife. This is why we have honoured him.
WIND UNDER THE WINGS AWARD
We were in search of an individual working in an organisation whose primary purpose was NOT wildlife protection, but which nevertheless supported and provided one or more of its employees to further the objectives of conservation.
VIVEK DESHPANDE AND THE INDIAN EXPRESS, NAGPUR
Deshpande has spent the last decade defending wildlife the best way he knows how - using his pen. His in-depth articles have covered human-animal conflict, the illegal antler trade, the timber mafia and the occasional misdemeanors of Forest Department officials gone wrong. Not one to be cowed by money or threats from politicians, he even exposed a transport minister involved in a chinkara poaching case and a former Forest Secretary, who was ultimately accused of collusion with illegal saw mills and mines around Maharashtra's tiger landscape. His persistent reportage also exposed the darker side of the Forest Rights Act and how it was misused in Gadchiroli, Maharashtra. In search of the truth and in defence of the wildlife he loves, he has often put himself in harm's way.
In 2007, a tiger had allegedly killed four people in the Talodhi range of the North Chandrapur forest adjoining the Tadoba-Andhari Tiger Reserve. Under immense political pressure, the Forest Department eventually had to shoot it dead. Deshpande wrote with passion about the unnecessary loss of life, both human and animal. In his view that situation could have been prevented had buffer zone and corridor management practices being advocated for years been put into practice. He wrote endlessly on the subject and was rewarded when the National Tiger Conservation Authority ordered an enquiry not only into this death, but the overall condition of Maharashtra's tiger reserves. But Deshpande was not satisfied. He persevered until a Conservation Corridor Programme was devised by the state to enhance protection of carnivores and their prey outside Protected Areas.
Vivek Deshpande is a game changer who lives the dictum: the pen is mightier than the sword. This is why we have honoured him.
JOINT GREEN TEACHER AWARD
The Sanctuary-RBS Green Teacher Award was instituted to honour individuals working to communicate wildlife and conservation values to students. We were in search of individuals whose passion for their subject was infectious and who revelled in creating individuals more capable than themselves. We found two such individuals whose greatest joy is to open the book of nature for their wards.
DR. PARVISH PANDYA AND SUDHAKAR SOLOMON RAJ
Dr. Parvish Pandya and Professor Sudhakar Solomon Raj have equipped their students with the knowledge they need to care for and defend nature.
Dr. Pandya teaches Zoology at Bhavan's College, Mumbai and has shaped and guided an uncounted number of naturalists. He is a bird expert, plant expert, mammal expert, reptile expert... and more! For over three decades his greatest pleasure has been to share his love and knowledge of nature and spread conservation awareness to citizens' groups, students and the public at large and he has also held training sessions for officers of the Armed Forces and academicians. A field man, he believes that the best education is imparted in the forest. The quintessential teacher, his greatest pride he says is watching his students evolve into naturalists and rational conservationists with the courage to act. sexkl
Sudhakar Solomon Raj is a political science and mass media teacher at Wilson College. He founded and heads the strong and purposeful Wilson College Nature Club whose members he has been escorting to distant forests for almost three decades in an effort to make them fall in love with and defend India's wildernesses. Teacher, friend and shaper of destinies, he encourages his students to grapple with real issues and to get involved as participants in conservation campaigns. He also helps them understand the linkages between their living and non-living heritage at sites across India.
Both these builders of tomorrow emphasise that they continue to learn even as they teach and both continue to mould and mentor hundreds of future young naturalists. This is why we have honoured them.
YOUNG NATURALIST AWARDS
Nelson Mandela instructed his most trusted compatriots years ago to ensure that young persons were exposed to nature and given responsible positions early in life so that they could understand, appreciate and protect South Africa's natural heritage when they grew up. We discovered three young naturalists that would do any country proud. Respectful to the core, mission-ridden, they are reminding adults of their planet management responsibilities. They are our hope for the future.
ZEESHAN MIRZA
Naturalist, reptile enthusiast, spider and scorpion expert and researcher, at 22 years, Zeeshan Mirza has probably gathered as much natural history field experience as someone twice his age. He also meticulously documents his findings and has over 20 published papers under his belt already. When people need a snake rescued in Mumbai, they call Zeeshan. And he has already discovered two new species of scorpions, one from our own backyard, the Aarey Milk Colony. His greatest pleasure, he says, is to share his love and knowledge of nature with young children who he routinely escorts on forays into the Sanjay Gandhi National Park and Aarey Milk Colony, which he works to defend.
SOORAJ BISHNOI
Sooraj began his wildlife journey at the ripe old age of six years when his parents took him to the Keoladeo Ghana Bird Sanctuary at Bharatpur. His interest was further sparked because his school Lilavati Podar in Santa Cruz was one among the 650 that had registered with Kids for Tigers, the Sanctuary Tiger Programme, 10 years ago. As a student member of the Bombay Natural History Society his passion was given still more direction. He is already a hero for children younger than himself, for whom he routinely presents his amazing slide show - The Treasure - about the need to understand, appreciate and defend nature. “Don't wait till you grow up. The tiger needs you now," he urges children. He also happens to be one of the youngest contributors to the Readers Digest, which accepted his fascinating first person story: “Why I Watch Birds". Sooraj is a living example of the benefits of “catching them young".
MONSOON JYOTI GOGOI
Monsoon Jyoti Gogoi's passion is butterflies. His youth belies the fire in his belly for all things natural. He has spent the past five years recording and photographing over 500 butterfly species in Upper Assam, including some rare and endangered species that no naturalists had ever documented before. He is working with the World Wildlife Fund-India's Kaziranga-Karbi Anglong-Panbari-Dollamora elephant corridor monitoring project and is also recording the butterfly diversity in the Jeypore-Dehling Reserved Forest in Upper Assam. He has rediscovered and photographed rare species such as the white punch Dodona henrici longicaudata, pale-striped dawnfly Capilia zennara, purple lancer Salanoemia fuscicornis and the yellow-band palmer Lotongus sarala. Monsoon is by any count a remarkable boy. After graduating in Zoology, he is currently pursuing his Masters in Wildlife Biology at the North Orissa University. He has a special interest in skippers - one of the least explored of all the butterfly families. In his words: “Once a species becomes extinct or a forest is lost, it will not come back. Now is when we must work to protect all things small and wonderful."
They love forests, have a passion to save all creatures great and small, plus a burning desire to assert themselves in support of the natural world. This is why we have honoured Zeeshan Mirza, Sooraj Bishnoi and Monsoon Jyoti Gogoi.
