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Project update
- May 2007
Honour for rhino expert
- IUCN appointment for conservationist Bibhab Talukdar
News provided by The Telegraph, India Saturday 19th May 2007
Guwahati, May 18: In one of the biggest
achievements in Assam’s wildlife sector, a conservationist
from the state — Bibhab Talukdar — has been appointed
co-chair of the Asian Rhino Specialist Group (South Asia) by the
Species Survival Commission of the International Union for Conservation
of Nature (IUCN).
Talukdar, who is the secretary-general of
Aaranyak, a biodiversity conservation society, has been working
in the field of rhino conservation for many years now.
Talukdar had recently attended the Asian
Rhino Specialist Group in Kaziranga. This specialist group plays
an active role in conservation of all three Asian rhino species:
the Java rhino, Sumatran rhino and the Indian rhino.
This specialist group has assisted range
states in developing rhino conservation strategies, in securing
funds for rhino conservation programmes, both in situ and ex situ,
and in co-ordinating rhino programmes between range states.
While Talukdar will be the co-chair of the
Asian Rhino Specialist Group (South Asia), the co-chair for Southeast
Asia is Nico J. van Strien.
Officials said this move would give a fillip
to rhino conservation in Assam as the specialist group is the
premier organisation involved in chalking out plans for rhino
conservation. “With your active engagement, I believe that
the Species Survival Commission cannot only live up to its reputation
of the previous decades, but can surpass it. I realise you may
feel you are being asked to undertake ‘Mission Impossible’,
but I have full confidence in your ability to lead your group
to greater achievement,” Holly T. Dublin, chair of the IUCN
Species Survival Commission, said in a letter. It further added
that Tirtha Maskey’s death had left a vacuum in the Asian
Rhino Specialist Group.
“You were recommended to me as a worthy
successor, and I, therefore, accordingly invite you to serve the
SSC as co-chair of the IUCN SSC Asian Rhino Specialist Group alongside
Dr Nico van Strien for the remainder of the period 2005-2008,”
it said.
“It is an added responsibility. But
it feels nice that at least somebody from the range country has
got the opportunity to strengthen the initiative of Indian and
Nepal rhino conservation efforts,” Talukdar said.
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