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Dr. Anish Andheria is the President of the Wildlife Conservation Trust (WCT), a not-for-profit, set up to preserve, protect and conserve wildlife and fight climate change. Currently, WCT works in and around 130 national parks and wildlife sanctuaries spread across 23 states of India and catalyses path-breaking conservation action.
He is a member of both the 'Maharashtra State Board of Wildlife' and the 'First State Expert Appraisal Committee' for projects related to Industries, Mining and Irrigation in Maharashtra. He is also a member of the Steering Committee of the Madhya Pradesh Tiger Conservation Foundation.
He has been awarded the prestigious Carl Zeiss Conservation Award 2008. He is a Fellow of LEAD, an international leadership programme on environment and development spread across 80 countries. He has helped set up Kids for Tigers, a nation-wide conservation education programme in 2000. The programme is in its 17th year and reaches out to nearly a quarter million school children.
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After completing his Ph.D. from Institute of Chemical Technology, Mumbai, he went on to pursue Masters in Wildlife Biology and Conservation from the National Center for Biological Sciences (NCBS), Bengaluru. He is a large carnivore specialist with immense knowledge on predator-prey relationships.
A wildlife photographer of repute, he has photographed some of the most remote wildlife reserves of India. His love affair with the camera began in 1994 and continues to be fired by his awe and passion for nature. His collection of over 300,000 images serves as a veritable archival record of the wildlife and wildernesses of India. His images have been widely used in national and international publications.
He has co-authored two books on Indian wildlife and has contributed to several other books and publications, including scientific papers. He is a Trustee of the 'Conservation Wildlands Trust' and 'The Climate Reality Project India'. He is also on the advisory board for Nature’s Jamboree a organisation started to promote traditional art forms and artisans. A natural communicator, he is one of India's leading motivational speakers, and has introduced thousands of young people to the joys of nature and the rationale for nature conservation.
In his view, photography is a conservation tool that has the power to motivate people to rise in defense of the vanishing wilds. He likes to capture landscapes and animals in the raw, while revealing his own deep reverence for the natural world. He believes that the marriage of science, conservation and aesthetics is important to engage people in the race to protect the remaining wildernesses on planet Earth.
According to him, if his images inform people of a world outside of their own existence, which runs independent of the machinations of Homo sapiens, his purpose as a photographer would be fulfilled.
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| Awards |
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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.
In 2008, the award was given to five young naturalists who have made it to the 'Carl Zeiss Roll of Honour for Excellence in Wildlife Conservation'.
"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.
"These are the young people who have embarked on a journey to protect the India's wild. This is
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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," added Tiger Expert Valmik Thapar.
CNN IBN Link on the awards... Click Here |
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| Citation |
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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.
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| Wildlife Conservation Trust |
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The Wildlife Conservation Trust (WCT) is a Mumbai-based registered public charitable trust dedicated and committed to the preservation, protection and conservation of wildlife across India. WCT believes that natural ecosystems are the backbone of India’s water, food, climate and economic security.
WCT respects and values the role of forest staff in maintaining the integrity of forests and wildlife and believes that a well-trained and motivated field staff is a prerequisite for healthy ecosystems. In its endeavour to supplement the work of the government, WCT provides equipment, vehicles and training to India’s frontline forest staff and other forest personnel whose quality of life and living conditions it seeks to improve.
As on March 12, 2017, WCT is working with the Forest Departments of 130 national parks and sanctuaries, spread across 23 states in India. It has equipped over 2100 anti-poaching camps across the country with over 20 essential items. It has donated 55 Rapid Response Units (RRUs) to over 40 protected areas including tiger reserves. These vehicles are equipped with equipment necessary for rescuing wild animals and mitigating man-animal conflict.
WCT’s nature of support varies from survival kits (equipment that enables the field staff to survive in the forest for 3-4 days during emergencies); patrolling-cum-rescue vehicles and specially-designed injury-proof carnivore trapping cages; Integrated Solar Charging Systems for charging wireless sets, mobile phones, torches, digital camera among other equipment; LPG cylinders; water filters for forests outposts to basic necessities like winter jackets; gumboots; shoes; raincoats; bicycles; metal cots; trunks; tables; chairs and uniforms.
Another important aspect of WCT’s interventions is the ‘WCT Wildlife Service Awards’ which was introduced to motivate the forest staff along with associated agencies such as the judiciary, police department and eco-development committees who work closely with the Forest Department to curtail man-animal conflict, forest degradation and poaching.
WCT has been conducting consultations and workshops on various threads of wildlife conservation involving forest officials, wildlife biologists, conservation NGOs, researchers, wildlifers, corporates, writers and film-makers. It is the organisation’s belief that by working in unison, the country can help find solutions to the many problems confronting India's wildlife and forests.
WCT, in association with the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) and the Global Tiger Forum (GTF), supports transboundary consultations between India and Nepal, India and Bangladesh, India and Bhutan to achieve a shared goal of tiger conservation.
Most importantly, WCT implements key community interventions in the arena of skill training, livelihoods, basic education and health in and around tiger reserves and other protected areas. This includes health camps for forest staff, vocational training for village youth, improvement of education facilities in remote government schools plus awareness and education campaigns to reduce peoples' dependence on forests.
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| Sanctuary Magazine |
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Sanctuary Asia, India's leading wildlife, conservation and environment magazine, was started in 1981 to raise awareness among Indians of their disappearing natural heritage. The overwhelming response to the magazine led to the birth of Sanctuary Cub, a children's nature magazine, in 1984. Sanctuary has also produced two Conservation serials aired on India's national television network. Sanctuary uses the mainstream press to put forward alternate views on wildlife and development issues through a syndication of articles. It covers a variety of subjects including wildlife, nature conservation, research, travel, science, and the politics of development and conservation. Sanctuary is now a leading content provider for websites interested in the above subjects.
Sanctuary is at the fulcrum of several wildlife conservation campaigns and serves as a network for wildlife groups, concerned individuals and non-profit organisations. It is also a source of information for press and television.
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| Kids for Tigers |
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Kids for Tigers was launched by Sanctuary Asia magazine in the year 2000 as an environmental education programme for schools across India. The programme aims to bring out the vital connection between the survival of the tiger and the ecological security of the Indian subcontinent. Through 'edutainment' workshops, tiger fests, nature walks, film shows and tiger information kits, Kids for Tigers seeks to increase awareness among children about India's biodiversity and sensitize them to the fact that saving tigers and their forests will also secure our water supply and help save ourselves. The programme, in its 10th year and is an integral part of 275 schools and as many as 500,000 students in 15 cities in India.
Teachers are the key to Kids for Tigers. Using teacher-training workshops, tiger fests, nature walks, signature campaigns, public rallies, films and slide shows, the programme moulds over one million young Indians into an active force to save wild tigers. Kids for Tigers’ coordinators also work closely with teachers, parents and students to explain how the survival of wild tigers means the survival of nature and every species within it – humans included. The rationale of Kids for Tigers is: “We cannot save the tiger without saving its forest. If we do this, we are saving India’s purest water sources. And by saving fresh water, we save ourselves.”
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