Do you worry about the future of our wild planet?
Conservation is never far from our thoughts and this week’s podcast guest lives breathes and works at the very epicenter of the most pressing concerns, where people and wilderness meet.
Krithi Karanth is the chief conservation scientist at the Centre for Wildlife Studies in India, she wants to reduce the friction between wildlife and people living near Indian national parks. Every year, there are numerous cases which see animals and humans clashing, resulting in collateral damage, injury, and death on both sides. Karanth’s team aims to mitigate the situation by reducing threats, raising conservation awareness and providing education to local communities, as well as assisting with compensation claims through Wild Seven, a toll-free helpline.
Basically, her system has been successfully implemented at a local level in two of India’s premier parks and they are now scaling it up to move into six additional parks.
This year Krithi was one of the Rolex Enterprise Laureates.
Rolex has always been a great supporter of explorers and discoverers. This year they launched the Perpetual Planet campaign. The project has three pillars. Marine conservationist Sylvia Earle’s Mission Blue, Rolex’s partnership with National Geographic and the Enterprise award to foster entrepreneurship, advance human knowledge and protect our cultural heritage and the environment.
People who run projects that will inspire and improve life on Earth as we know it has been entering the Rolex Enterprise awards since 1976.
Warning: Krithi’s stubbornly optimistic view of conservation may inspire hope and joy!
Listen to our podcast with Krithi here:
and this is where you can find Krithi and her work
Notes
Find Operation Crash and the Quest to Save the Rhino here. (Thank you, Billie Thomas, for suggesting this.)
INTERESTING NUMBERS TO NOTE ABOUT THE ROLEX AWARDS FOR ENTERPRISE
34, 000 Number of applicants since the launch of the Rolex Awards in 1976
191 Number of countries represented by the applicants
150 Number of laureates selected
24 Age of the youngest laureate
74 Age of the oldest laureate
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