The year 2020 has been an extraordinary year for the world. It started rather ordinarily though. I was in Guatemala for a symposium in February when we started hearing of a virus outbreak, with initial postulations of it having originated from the wet markets of China. By the time I returned to India – just in time before lockdown, international borders were being shut and flights were getting canceled to curtail the spread of the virus, with India shutting down all international flights from the 20th of March.
February also had seen WTI participating in the CMS – COP 13 at Gandhinagar, hosted by India. With the Parties agreeing to the listing of the Asian elephant, the Great Indian Bustard, Bengal Florican, the Little Bustard, the Oceanic whitetip shark in Appendix I of the CMS Appendices, five of the seven species with a distribution range in India, which got added to Appendix I in this COP. The listing of Asian elephants was special as we had helped draft the proposal to enlist together with the Asian Elephant Species Specialist Group (AeSSG) that I chair.
Work didn’t stop for us. Our field teams stood ground when all others locked themselves in. We stood with frontline forest staff we closely work with or not, whether we were approached for help or not – providing rations to communities who bore the brunt of having supplies cut off. Meetings became virtual while our field staff continued to work in their field stations and field areas of duty respecting all the COVID19 protocols.
We managed to provide Covid Relief at the request of the state forest departments to 5252 forest dept staff and 11282 community members, from Kashmir to Sundarbans, to Kerala and Arunachal Pradesh. We aided the community at Sundarbans post-cyclone Amphan with essential rations. Our teams continued to train frontline forest staff across India in Odisha, Karnataka, J & K, Kerala, Uttar Pradesh this year. We worked with the Chhattisgarh and Assam state forest departments to translocate two Asiatic wild buffaloes from Manas to Chhattisgarh during peak lockdown towards long term revival of the Chhattisgarh wild buffalo population. Our teams at Assam and Arunachal Pradesh helped rescue elephants, tigers, rhinos, bears, leopards, and leopard cats and release them back to the wild. Our Marine team celebrated the Whale Shark both on International Whale Shark Day and Gujarat Whale Shark day, organizing school competitions that saw active online participation. Our Wild Aid grants helped save the wild too notably in Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh while providing Covid Relief to forest departments.
We stood in the support of 23 bereaved families of the brave frontline staff of our country who fell in the line of duty to death and life-changing injuries this year. Our support in the form of ex gratia assistance gave these families immediate financial relief to brave their personal tragedies and is rooted in the core belief of Wildlife Trust of India.
As we end this year, there is news of a mutant strain of the covid reaching our shores, but our work goes on and our spirits remain undiminished.
I end this year with heartfelt thanks to our Board of Trustees who actively lent their wisdom for good governance that saw the organisation through this crisis. Heartfelt gratitude to our partners and supporters who continued to believe in us, and most of all kudos to team WTI who rose to the occasion and stood with communities and forest departments in the face of adversity.
May 2021 be happy and healthy for all.
– Vivek Menon
