HRD Talk

Mr. Abhimanyu Acharya was the former head of Education, World Wide Fund for Nature - India (South).

Tell us something about your tenure as WWF head - what did the work entail? Your career highs and lows.

As the head of education, WWF, southern zone for two years from '97-'99, I was in-charge of education, awareness of wildlife and nature conservation and bio-diversity in the southern states of Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Kerala and Pondicherry. My work was to direct the educational programmes conducted by WWF in schools and other institutes. I was involved in the direction and design of teacher training, conducting workshops, exhibitions and holding competitions designed to instil in public an awareness of the importance of conservation.

The designing of teacher training involved training teachers of virtually every discipline to include in their functional areas definite relevancies vis a vis conservation and its importance to our environment. For instance, a chemistry teacher could teach the children how to purify water, a physics teacher could teach how to make windmills as an alternative source of energy or a geography teacher could talk about soil erosion and its effects on our environment. The idea here is that children learn easily and more readily when taught with examples and in natural environs.

My interaction with so many children, teachers and conservationists to help bring about a change-this I would definitely rate as the highpoint of my time with the WWF. We started a number of nature clubs, organised camps and held sessions outdoors, which were enthusiastically received and which I personally found a very heartening experience.

However what often let us down was the bureaucracy and red tapism. This, to date is a demotivating factor for people who want to join the conservation movement. Bureaucracy has often hampered free flow of the conservation message.

What are some of the pet projects taken up by the WWF? How effective has the movement been in India?

WWF has done and is doing a great deal for preservation of wildlife and nature. One of its popular initiatives has been the promotion of its project called 'Traffic'-which deals with ban on sales of animal fur, skin and protected animal products. The organisation carries out considerable research in various fields of bio-diversity conservation. It has conducted studies on animal and bird migratory paths, was responsible for introducing turtle excluder in finishing nets, and is also into production of environmental friendly paper products like cards, wood free pencils etc. among other things.

The work undertaken by WWF has been pretty successful in India. A great deal has been accomplished in the area of conservation of endangered species like the riverine dolphin, the bustard and the Monal pheasant.

What kind of government funding and support does the orgnisation get?

WWF gets very little funding from the government. It is dependent on foreign donations and internal generation of funds. However, it collaborates with the government in many of the conservation projects. It has always had its wholehearted support and contribution in kind. It has collaborated with the Army in undertaking afforestation programme in the foothills of the Himalayas, it carries out demographic surveys, is into wetland conservation etc.

What are career options for a person in the field of wildlife conservation and forestry? Is it mostly voluntary work?

One can put in a lot of voluntary work and, in fact start as a volunteer at the collegiate level. Various other posts like that of ethologists, dendrologists, bio-chemists, researchers and physicists are often advertised in the national papers. WWF(International) also advertises online. It is absolutely essential that the person has an abiding interest in nature and its conservation.

What kinds of qualifications/ soft skills are required to enter this field?

Well, it is not like a regular 9-5 cushy and sedentary job. One has to give up all ideas of the corporate lifestyle. One has to go into the field, study the land, animal, plants and people .It is not a career where you don't get your hands dirty. One has to have a deep understanding of how conservation works. This is an important factor. To be an educator one needs to have extraordinary presentation skills, remarkable compassion and wide reading. A knowledge of alternative medicine and healing techniques are an added asset. To put it succinctly it's a life long passion.

PADMA RAMESH

padma.hyd@careercommunity.co.in