Sanctuary Nature Foundation Award conferred upon veteran activist S Theodore Baskaran

Conservation writer, historian, naturalist and veteran activist S Theodore Baskaran has been given the coveted Lifetime Service Award by the Sanctuary Nature Foundation.

Constituted in the year 2000, the Sanctuary Wildlife Awards recognise individuals working for the protection of wildlife and natural habitats in India.

Anurag Karekar, co-founder of NaturalisT Foundation and Ridhima Pandey, child activist, climate change speaker and conservation communicator were chosen for Young Naturalist Awards.

Environmentalist Dr PU Antony, a long-time educator, was presented with the Green Teacher Award.

The three chosen for Young Naturalist Awards were Anurag Karekar, multilingual nature educator, co-founder of NaturalisT Foundation and peer mentor and Ridhima Pandey, motivated child activist, climate change speaker and conservation communicator, and Suhaib Firdous Yatoo. amateur naturalist, taxonomist, photographer and repository of natural history knowledge.

The Wildlife Service Awards were given to Dr Sanjay Molur, a conservation biologist; Rita Banerji, a wildlife filmmaker and conservationist; Iamgurgaon (IAG) team -- Latika Thukral, Swanzal Kak Kapoor and Vijay Dhasmana, Gurgaon’s green defenders and rewilders of the Aravali Biodiversity Park, Meghna Banerjee and Suvrajyoti Chatterjee, a lawyer-herpetologist duo who are wildlife community conservationists and Brijlal, a self-taught naturalist.

“Today, mounting evidence from over 1,200 globally respected scientists makes it clear that unless we protect the biodiversity that controls the carbon cycle, we have no hope at all of dealing with the climate crisis that has begun to overwhelm us. The good news is that the pandemic, sea-level rise, climatic extremes, deforestation, air and water pollution... all handmaidens of our climate crisis... are fixable, given time and given the use of nature-based solutions,” said Bittu Sahgal, Founder and Editor, Sanctuary Asia.

The awards were presented in the presence of legendary conservationist Dr Jane Goodall, DBE and founder of The Jane Goodall Institute & UN Messenger of Peace; Vandana Shiva, renowned environmentalist and food sovereignty advocate; Belinda Wright, prominent wildlife photographer and Executive Director of the Wildlife Protection Society of India; Bivash Pandav, Director of Bombay Natural History Society; Dia Mirza, actor and United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) National Goodwill Ambassador; and other long-time stalwarts and patrons of the conservation field.