RSPB honours influential conservationist who saved India’s vultures
Today (Saturday 10 October), the RSPB is presenting Dr Ram Jakati with the prestigious RSPB Medal for Outstanding Contribution to Nature Conservation.
In the 1990s India’s vulture population was pushed to the brink of extinction due to the use of the veterinary drug, diclofenac, given to cattle but lethal to vultures feeding on their carcasses. Use of the drug was so widespread that India’s vulture population dropped to just 1% of what it had been before the use of diclofenac.
Dr Jakati played a key role in not only getting the drug banned but also establishing a network of sanctuaries, breeding centres and urgent action needed to ensure that vultures did not go extinct before the ban could be implemented. His work began before the cause of the decline had been identified and his early intervention can be considered a major factor in protecting India’s vultures.
He subsequently helped to found SAVE (Saving Asia’s Vultures from Extinction), an international partnership that to this day plays a coordination role in the conservation of South Asia’s vultures.
The Asian vulture conservation programme is today, 20 years on, a world-leading example of effective conservation delivery. And an exemplar of what can happen when state and national governments, NGOs, academics and other stakeholders work together with common purpose. There is no doubt about the pivotal role that Dr Jakati has played and continues to play in this success.
Beccy Speight, chief executive of the RSPB said: “The combined climate and nature crisis and the impact of human activity is pushing many once common species to the brink of extinction. But around the world people and some governments are fighting back. So I am pleased that we are able to celebrate the vital work of Dr Jakati. His energy and resolve has prevented the extinction of vultures in India. He was a driving force for change and galvanised people, organisations and his Government to act before it was too late. His work and the tireless efforts of everyone involved with SAVE are an inspiration that we can make the changes we need before it is too late, that with urgent and united action we can revive our world.”
Dr Jakati said: “I am very delighted to receive this prestigious award and deeply humbled by your gesture. I would like to emphasise that we could make rapid progress in vulture conservation in India because we had an excellent team to start with during early 2000. I would, therefore, like to accept this award on behalf of that vulture team which laid a solid foundation for work on saving Indian vultures from possible extinction. I would specially like to mention the names of Dr Vibhu Prakash and Nikita Prakash of the Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS), Dr Debbie Pain and Chris Bowden of the RSPB, Prof. Rhys Green of Cambridge University and member of the RSPB, Dr Andrew Cunningham of the Zoological Society of London (ZSL) and Jemima Parry Jones of the International Birds of Prey Centre.
I would like to thank officials of Haryana Government and the State Forest Department, BNHS and other institutions who helped in the smooth functioning of the vulture programme. I would specially like to mention Mr Gulab Singh Sorot, then Jt Secy, Late Mr Maheshwari, then Forest Secretary, Mr D. S. Dhesi, then Environment Secretary, Mr L. S. M. Salins, then Principal Secretary, Government of Haryana, Dr Asad Rahmani, then Director of BNHS, and Dr D. Swarup of Indian Veterinary Research Institute, then in charge of Wildlife cell.
Lastly, I thank all others from BNHS, RSPB, ZSL and SAVE who worked with us and continue to work on the project.”
To find out more about Dr Jakati’s work and the work of SAVE please visit: www.save-vultures.org
ENDS
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Brilliant guy and all his tremendous work. So well deserved.
Gets my vote.
I have a long connection (over 50 years) with India’s vultures, cultivated by the photos brought back from India by my grandfather when he had a stint there during WWII. They were much more abundant then.
Many many congratulations to our Guru Dr. Jakati. We have had the honour and privilege to have Dr. Jakati as our faculty during our training years in the Indira Gandhi Forest Academy, Dehradun, way back in 1993-95. Many of my batchmates have gone on to become passionate bird watchers and wildlife enthusiasts; I am sure they would fondly remember the early morning birdwatching excursions that Dr. Jakati used to organise for us.
Regarding his commendable body of work on the conservation of vultures, I can only say that but for people like him, some of the vital cogs in Mother Nature’s life support system would have long since disappeared. While some of us are content to bask in the reflected glory of conservation of some charismatic species, there are a few like Dr. Jakati, and thanks to them, who slog away for the conservation of such non-glamorous species as the vultures.
I wish him all success in many more such endeavours in the future.