Darwin’s kin spurs Mumbai youth to take up conservation efforts

For Ruth Padel, poet, novelist and campaigner for tiger conservation, poetry and animal conservation go hand-in-hand. Padel, who is the great-great-granddaughter of Charles Darwin, English naturalist, regarded as the father of evolution, is in the city to spread the message of forest conservation through sustainable development.

Ruth Padel attended a seminar on biodiversity at Jai Hind College in Churchgate on Friday, hoping to inspire youngsters to take up conservation efforts.

Rajendra Pachauri, chairman of the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) talked about climate change and what needs to be done, in his inaugural address as the chief guest for the seminar.

Padel has long been involved with tiger conservation and some of her works, such as Tigers in Red Weather and Where the Serpent Lives, have dealt with human-nature relations. According to Padel, poaching is one of the major reasons behind depletion of wildlife in India today.

“In India, poaching gets worse during the rains. Powerful big city mafia control the entire operation and ministers do not bother to control it as wild animals cannot vote,” she said. “But not many young people are aware of their plight. We want them to realise how their purchase of an iPod affects the environment.”

When it comes to conservation, Padel feels that the middle class is relatively ignorant on the issue. “I gave a talk on tiger conservation in London, after which an Indian couple approached me saying they never knew these problems faced by their country,” she added.

Recently, several students from the college have participated in conservation efforts. “Students completed a noise mapping project on the city and one student also received a PhD on it. The purpose of this seminar is to encourage more students to initiate similar efforts,” said Suneel Advani, vice-chairman and managing director, Jai Hind College.