Sanjay Gubbi

BANGALORE: When he set out to study his postgraduation in conservation biology at the University of Kent, U.K., a couple of years ago, wildlife conservation activist Sanjay Gubbi thought it was honour enough to enter the portals of the Durrell Institute of Conservation and Ecology (DICE), which the legendary naturalist, Gerald Durrell, helped set up.

Now, he has won the Maurice Swingland Prize, 2006 at DICE, for his dissertation on "Tiger habitats & integrated conservation and development projects: a case study from Periyar Tiger Reserve, India."

The Maurice Swingland Prize is set up in memory of the father of Ian Swingland, DICE's founder and a major figure in biodiversity conservation.

Mr. Gubbi's study evaluated the objectives of the World Bank-funded India Eco-Development Project (IEDP) implemented at Periyar Tiger Reserve. The main conclusion was that people living within and outside the forests were not positive about wildlife conservation objectives, and they were more preoccupied with the consequences of man-animal conflict.

It has been two years since the funding came to an end, but the good news is that the bureaucracy in Kerala has not allowed the project to die. The Periyar Foundation now deploys revenue from tourism into the scheme.

Mr. Gubbi, who is back in the city to resume his assignment at the Wildlife Conservation Society (India Programme), will focus on conservation policy, outreach efforts and coordinates tiger conservation projects in the Western Ghats with tiger biologist Ullas Karanth.

This diversity exposed Mr. Gubbi to the fact that conservation paradigms change from continent to continent. "In India, conservation is something of a passion with those who make it their vocation. But in most of Africa, trophy hunting and wildlife trade are acceptable."

This was a culture shock for Mr. Gubbi, but then when one considers the fact that in Africa one talks of wildlife conservation in areas as large as 60,000 sq. km, populated by about a 100,000 people it is possible to accept that wildlife is dispensable. He did not have a very difficult time, thankfully, explaining the compulsions that drive conservation in India.

And hardly surprising that his presentation on Periyar Tiger Reserve was adjudged second best amongst 261 entries at a conference organised by the Cambridge University in March 2007.

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