IUCN President addresses WWF India gathering

[Guest guest]

*Dear all,*

* It gives me pleasure to attach a transcript of the 13th Kailash

Sankhala Memorial Lecture that was delivered yesterday at the WWF auditorium

in New Delhi. Unfortunately I could not attend the entire session but I did

obtain a copy of the transcript of the message that was given by Dr Ashok

Khosla, President of IUCN and Chairman of Development Alternatives. The

programme was organised by the Tiger Trust founded by the late Kailash

Sankhala, one of India's foremost tiger conservationists and former director

of Delhi Zoo. His book 'Tiger! The Story of the Indian Tiger' should be

required reading for anyone interested in tiger conservation(still available

from the Natraj bookshop in Dehra Dun) and zoo management. The chapter

'Circus or zoo?' is the most eloquent, honest and moving account of zoo

management in India I have ever read. This an excerpt that I am sharing with

you :*

* " Many times my mornings began with news of the escape of a tiger or bear,

or of a fatal accident resulting from a fight between the inmates of one of

the enclosures. The sad reports of the death of rare animals were even more

disturbing. But the sun used to shine more brightly if a rare animal, or an

animal difficult to breed from, gave birth in captivity. When a Nilgiri

Langur produced a baby it was the first time in the history of zoos ; and

when the white tigress Rani delivered all-white cubs my happiness had no

limits. *

 

* At such times I was proud of my success and was convinced of the

importance of zoos in conservation. Yet at other times I felt I had more

blood on my hands than the most hardened poacher. No one understands death

better than a biologist, for death is a biological process; but separation

by this process brings its own pangs. There were some animals who died of

old age, others due to prolonged illness. Such shocks were mild, for the

mind was prepared for them ; but this was not always so. Wild animals have

great powers of resistance and may look in perfect condition even when they

are sick , then suddenly they are found dead. Such shocks were brutal. Moti,

the snow leopard, seemed to be in good health and was playful one evening;

the next morning he dropped dead. His whole chest cavity was full of blood,

a parasitic worm having entered a blood vessel and made its way out through

the aorta. An even worse shock was the death of Raj Kumari, the white

tigress, which was equally sudden. The only satisfaction I had was sometimes

to be present by their side during their last hour, a helpless witness like

a priest without a Bible. *

 

* After death, the animals were not simply thrown over the wall for

scavengers but were ceremoniously taken to graveyards and lowered to rest

with dignity. This helped to build up the concept of equality of the zoo

inmates with man. The men working for them began to regard their charges as

part of their family. When sick, the Hoolock Gibbon Renu would accept food

from no one except her keeper Bhagwana. The tigress Ashrafi while in labour

pains liked me to caress her to give her confidence, and I was always by her

side when she produced her three litters. My wife’s annoyance is justified

because when our own children were born I was nowhere near for days.*

 

* Delhi Zoo is regular place to hold receptions connected with wildlife

because of the atmosphere of the wilderness it provides. The reception of

the IUCN General Assembly was held near the waterfowl resort, and the lawns

were full of leading figures in nature conservation from all over the world.

Sir Peter Scott asked if the ducks were wild. Dr Harold Coolidge, who was

then President of the IUCN , tapped the microphone three times – a signal

which triggers flight from the pond – and the whole sky was filled with wild

ducks hovering before landing again. Sir Peter must have been reminded of

his home at Slimbridge. Sir Hugh Elliott also paid us the the compliment of

saying that Delhi Zoo is one of the three best zoos in the world.” (Kailash

Sankhala, Tiger! The Story of the Indian Tiger, Natraj Publishers, Dehra

Dun, 2005, pages 143, 144 and 149)*

 

* India needs more conservationists like Mr Sankhala and it is heartening to

note that his son is following his illustrious footsteps. It was also

enlightening to read the speech of the IUCN Pr**esident.*

 

* Good wishes,*

 

**

 

* *

 

* Tiger Trust and WWF INDIA cordially invite you to the 13th Kailash

Sankhala Memorial Lecture on Tue**sday, August, 4, 2009 at 4.15 pm at the

WWF INDIA Secretariat, 172 B Lodhi Estate, New Delhi- 110 003.*

 

**

 

*Keynote address on 'Ecosystem Services - The ultimate source of wealth' by

Dr Ashok Khosla, President, IUCN and Chairman, Development Alternatives.*

 

Ecosystem Services –

 

the Ultimate Source of Wealth

 

Kailash Sankhala Memorial Lecture 2009 by Dr. Ashok

 

Khosla

 

Every schoolchild knows that the Tiger, as a species, is in serious trouble.

In

 

the fourteen nations where the King of the Asian jungle used to roam in the

 

hundreds of thousands just a century ago, there are now less than 4,000

 

animals left. Not even 1,500 remain of the largest population of all, in

India.

 

All living things have a right to exist and it is the responsibility of any

 

civilization worth its name to ensure that right. The well-informed student

 

also knows that when the last tiger disappears, the other species are also

 

under heavy threat of extinction. Soon, the conditions that make the tiger

 

extinct will also put the squeeze of death on the deer, the grasses, the

trees,

 

the other animals – and eventually on humans. This was the apprehension

 

that drove Kailash Sankhla all his professional life, devoting the last

decades

 

to pioneering ways to protect the apex species itself from disappearing from

 

the map of biodiversity. Today’s efforts by governments and by civil society

 

such as the Tiger Trust and WWF build on that legacy. They will need all our

 

help if they are to succeed. One way we can do this is to demonstrate the

 

value of nature, whose health is indicated by the health of the tiger, to

our

 

lives.

 

If our economic activity destroys the capability of the ecosystem to sustain

 

our life support systems, which it will do if our decision-making continues

to

 

ignore their value, future generations will pay a very heavy cost. Some

 

ecosystem services have almost infinite value. Those that maintain the

 

oxygen in the air we breathe, the ozone that protects us from the Sun’s

ultra

 

violet rays, the quality of the water we drink and the fertility of the soil

that

 

produces our food are so basic to supporting life itself that these cannot

even

 

be evaluated. The carbon dioxide in the atmosphere that maintains the

 

planet’s temperature at levels that permit biological processes to function

is

 

another such service.

 

Some ecosystem services are quite obvious and even visible. The value of

 

these is relatively easy to appreciate: fish, game, fruits and nuts from the

wild.

 

Many crops are pollinated by bees, bugs, beetles, butterflies, bats and

other

 

begnin natural agents, without which much of our food would be too costly

 

to produce. In other cases, seeds are spread or germinated by such

processes.

 

And fertilizing the soil, maintaining the local microclimate, controlling

the

 

spread of crop pests and disease and binding the earth to prevent erosion

are

 

other processes that are commonly known.

 

Less well known but often even more valuable are the invisible processes

 

such as those that regulate the flow of nutrients through the ecosystem –

 

nitrogen, carbon, phosphorus, sulphur and the rest. Without these, life

itself

 

let alone crops and biomes such as forests, grasslands, mangroves, corals,

 

would not exist. Ecosystem services are thus responsible for regulating,

 

recharging and purifying our water bodies – on or below the ground – for our

 

drinking and agriculture, for producing the timber, fuel, fodder, fiber for

our

 

industries and for mitigating floods, droughts and natural disasters.

 

Ecosystems are well-known for other services that are greatly valued by

 

people: as habitats for biodiversity, genetic resources, migratory species;

as

 

enablers of ecotourism and many sports and recreational activities; and as

 

sources of cultural values in the form of aesthetic beauty, intellectual

 

stimulation and many different disciplines of science.

 

‘Nature-tech’—technologies inspired by nature—are among the most

 

tantalising prospects for realizing a low carbon, resource-efficient Green

 

Economy in the 21st century. The natural world, in all its splendour and

 

diversity, has already solved many of the sustainability challenges facing

 

humanity in ingenious, unexpected and even counter-intuitive ways. If

 

humans could only unravel the fascinating chemistry, processes, structures

 

and designs that organisms from bacteria and mollusks to reptiles and

 

mammals have evolved and tested over millions of years, perhaps then we

 

would have new and transformational solutions to the many challenges faced

 

by a planet of inhabited by more than six billion people.

 

Our economic accounting systems do not fully acknowledge the value of such

 

ecosystem services. Both as stocks (equivalent to primary wealth) or as

flows

 

(equivalent to the returns from that wealth, treated as an investment), they

 

are almost entirely neglected in our calculations of economic activity, GNP,

 

stock market indices or other parameters. Since they do not appear in any

 

economic model, they are neglected by economists and therefore by policy

 

makers.

 

The current crises of climate change, peak oil, water scarcity, food price

 

fluctuations, financial systems and many others amply demonstrate the

 

dangers inherent in such neglect. Designing strategies for sustainable

 

development requires a much better understanding of nature’s services on the

part of every concerned citizen.

 

 

 

*MEDIA RELEASE*

 

 

 

 

Kailash Sankhala Memorial Lecture 2009

 

 

 

 

 

The 13th Kailash Sankhala Memorial Lecture organised by Tiger Trust in

association with WWF India is scheduled on *August 4, 2009** at WWF India,

Lodhi Estate **t*o celebrate the contribution towards the cause of

conservation of tigers*. The *theme of this years’ lecture is “*Ecosystem

Services – the Ultimate Source of Wealth.”*

 

* *

 

* While Dr. Ashok Khosla*, eminent environmentalist and winner of

the*United Nations’ Sasakawa Environment Prize 2002

* would be the speaker; *Jairam Ramesh, Minister of Environment &

Forest,*would be the chief guest for the occasion.

 

* *

 

*Every year, the *Kailash Sankhala Memorial Lecture celebrates the

contribution of* *Lt. Sh. Kailash Sankhala, the first director of Project

Tiger in India who expressed his concern on the dwindling tiger population

as early as in the year 1969.

 

 

 

*The memorial lecture also marks the completion of Tiger Trust’s 20 years.

Tiger Trust has been working tirelessly for the protection of tigers and

their habitats. The trust has also been involved in various conservation

activities, mainly in capacity building programmes for imparting

legal/technical training in all the major tiger reserves and is active in

various states such as Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chattisgarh and Andhra

Pradesh. *

 

* *

 

*The lecture aims to draw attention to the declining number of tigers under

heavy threat of extinction. The lecture would bring to light the fact that

the conditions which make the tigers extinct, also possess a threat to other

floral and faunal species and eventually human beings. *

 

* *

 

*For a resource-efficient Green Economy, Dr. Khosla plans to suggest the

technologies inspired by nature – ‘nature tech’. According to Dr. Khosla,

the natural world has already solved many of the sustainability challenges

facing humanity in ingenious, unexpected and even counter-intuitive ways and

has the capacity to offer transformational solutions to the many challenges

faced by a planet inhabited by more than six-billion people**. *

 

* *

 

*Dr. Ashok Khosla would also focus on the need to maintain the balance of

the eco-system to sustain life-support systems and believes that if our

economic activity destroys the capability of the eco-system, future

generations will pay a very heavy cost. *

 

* *

 

* *

 

*T*iger Trust is a national level NGO founded by late Shri Kailash Sankhala

in 1989. It is a registered trust with a main object to save the wildlife

and its habitat and to conserve nature. Tiger Trust has been working in

association with the forest departments, Indira Gandhi National Forest

Academy*,** *Wildlife Institute of India, police departments, judicial

officers, stakeholders and corporate sector to bring poachers to book so

that higher conviction rate is achieved. The trust has the distinction of

having excellent faculty which comprises of criminal lawyers, retired senior

police officers, sitting session judges, retired forest officers, experts in

forensic science and also the former Chief Justice as its patron. **

 

* *

 

The backbone of Tiger Trust, Ms. Anjana Gosain, has made immense

contributions for successful prosecution of wildlife criminals and has

authored compilation of various cases under Wildlife Protection Act (1972).

Presently, she is a practicing advocate in Supreme Court and High Court with

specialization in environmental law and is planning the modules on practical

aspects of prosecution related to wildlife crimes. She has a standing of

more than 31 yrs of practice.**

 

* *

*Ends*

 

 

 

Notes to Editors:

 

* *

 

1. *Please release this in July 2009 as the lecture is scheduled on

August 4, 2009.*

 

* *

 

*2. **For high-resolution picture or information about other events of

Tiger Trust, please visit www.tigertrustindia.org. . *

 

* *

 

1. *For any other information, please contact:*

 

* *

 

* Shradha Chadha: **P**hone: +91-11-41669477 / +

91-9650399904

**(Media Manager) **E-mail: **shradha*

 

* or *

 

* *

 

* Madhvi Awasthi: Phone: +91-11-41669477 /

+91-9650399929*

 

* (Asst. Media Manager)

E-mail:madhvi<E-mail%3Amadhvi

*

 

* *

 

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* 72, **Todarmal Lane**,*

 

* **New Delhi** – 11000, **India**.*

 

**

 

*late Padamshri SHRI KAILASH Sankhala*

 

****

 

*Late Padmashri Shri Kailash Sankhala, widely known as Tiger man of

Indiawas the committed forest officer for the cause of saving the wild

life and

its habitat. He was the founder director of Project Tiger, which started in

1973. His contribution to the world of conservation has been immense as he

was the first conservationist who raised a voice of concern for the

protection of tigers before IUCN as early as in 1969. *

 

* *

 

*He conducted extensive research in this subject and was granted Jawaharlal

Nehru Fellowship. He was a distinguished naturalist and played a key role in

carving out a patch and vision for protecting the distinguished specie of

tiger and its habitat. He has authored several books on tiger and Indian

Wildlife. He worked closely with Smt. Indira Gandhi, the late Prime Minister

of India in framing the project known as ‘Project Tiger’.*

 

* *

 

*He established Tiger Trust in 1989 to continue his commitment for tiger

conservation. *

 

* *

 

*He was awarded the highest Award by the Government of India of Padam Shree

in 1992 for his contribution to the world of conservation. *

 

* *

 

*Shri Kailash Sankhala left for his heavenly abode on August 15, 1994 in

Jaipur after a brief illness.*

 

* *

 

*TIGER TRUST AND ITS ACTIVITIES:*

 

* *

 

*Tiger Trust completes its 20 years in 2009 and to celebrate the

contribution made by its founder and to carry on his objectives and

missions, it has been involved in several activities for the cause. Tiger

Trust is lead by Ms Anjana Gosain and Mr. Amit Sankhala and dedicated

trustees along with volunteers for this cause. *

 

* *

 

*Tiger Trust team has been working tirelessly for the protection of Tigers

and its habitat since last twenty years. Tiger Trust has been involved in

various conservation activities, mainly in capacity building programmes for

imparting legal/ technical training for the frontline forest staff in all

the major tiger reserves. It has been working in association with several

State forest departments, e.g. to a name a few Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh,

Chhattisgarh, Andhra Pradesh. It is also working with several universities

in India and Abroad under awareness programme with the students. *