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CMS VATAVARAN 2011 Award Jury (International category) met from Nov 18-20 at New Delhi. The jury was chaired by Dr Balakrishna Pisupati. Details of jury members are given below.
Dr Balakrishna Pisupati (Jury Chairperson)
Dr Pisupati is currently the Chairman of National Biodiversity Authority. He was the Head of Biodiversity, Land Law and Governance Unit of United Nations Environment Programme's Division of Environmental Law and Conventions (UNEP-DELC) based in Nairobi prior to joining the NBA. At UNEP he was managing UNEP's biodiversity related environmental conventions such as the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), Convention on Illegal Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), Convention on Migratory Species (CMS) as well as those of World Heritage Convention (WHC), Ramsar Convention on Wetlands, International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (ITPGRFA) and the Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD).
Previously he held positions such as the Programme Coordinator for Biodiplomacy Programme of the United Nations University-Institute of Advanced Studies (UNU-IAS) based in Japan. He also served as Head of the Asia Regional Biodiversity Programme of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) based in Sri Lanka during which time he helped several countries in Asia region develop national policies and regulations on conservation, use and development. He has more than 20 years of direct experience in global, regional and national policy making and implementation besides serving as an advisor to many Governments, UN Agencies and institutions in policy and law making.
He holds a Ph.D. in Genetics with specialization in agricultural biotechnology.
An electrical Engineer by profession he completed B.E. from NIT, Srinagar (Kashmir). Presently he is working as General Manager & Country Head, Corporate Communication, BHEL, New Delhi. During the last thirty-six years of experience with nation's premier engineering major, BHEL, he has worked in varied fields including Planning & Management Services, Technology Transfer, Project management, Marketing, PR & Communication, etc. Recently, Planman India- Marcom group chose him as PowerBrands Hall of Fame Most Dynamic Corporate Communication Professional of the Year and the award will be presented in Dec 2011 at London
His greatest professional campaign has been the very successful opinion-building campaign carried out to mould public opinion for providing a level-playing field to the domestic power equipment manufacturing industry vis-a-vis cheap Chinese imports. Through tactical media management and informal briefings to decision-making stakeholders, domestic industry was able to drive home the point about the gross injustice being meted out to it by not levying customs duty against dumping by Chinese.
Mr Panneerselvan took charge as the Executive Director of Panos South Asia on 1 July 2004. Panneer shares his time between the seven Panos offices located across the subcontinent. He is a steering committee member of Global Forum for Media Development and an Advisory Panel Member of the Knight International Journalism Fellowship programme. He joined Panos after being the Managing Editor for Sun Network, an Indian Television Network operating in five languages across 10 channels. As Managing Editor he was in charge of evolving and implementing an editorial policy across the network, apart from managing a large team of writers, producers and reporters and coordinating between various departments, bureaus and languages- Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Kannada and English. Before joining Sun Network, Panneer was the Chief of Bureau, for Outlook magazine, a multifaceted English language weekly. His areas included economy, politics and neighbourhood relations. He has published more than 200 articles in various national and international publications. He has also directed a video film "Making Trouble Where There Is None." This documentary, produced by Frontline magazine of The Hindu group, is about communal mobilisation under the cover of the Lord Ganesh festival in Chennai.
Panneer holds a Masters degree in Psychology. He was a Reuters Fellow at the University of Oxford in 1998.
Brij Mohan Singh Rathore, an Indian Forest Service officer is the Joint Secretary of Ministry of Environment and Forest, Government of India. He has been the Member Secretary of the Madhya Pradesh Biodiversity Board where he was engaged with multi-stakeholders processes for conservation, sustainable use and equitable sharing of benefits arising out of use of biodiversity and associated knowledge. Prior to this, he was the Forest Conservator of Seoni Forest Circle and a trainer at the Wildlife Institute of India. He was responsible for the design and implementation of training programs in integrated conservation and development for protected area managers, field staff, NGOs and local communities. He has more than a decade of experience as a field forester and has initiated and developed strategies for joint management of forests by government and local communities.
He is recipient of national award "Indira Priyadarshini Vriksh Mitra Award", for excellence in community based forest management.
Over the years, Himanshu Malhotra has emerged as an expert director and cameraperson and is considered an authority on conservation and ecology. He has been felicitated by the government of West Bengal and Vatavaran Film Festival for his contribution to conservation and wildlife filmmaking. His film on animal rights "Are We So Insensitive to Life" exposed the inhuman torture animals are subjected to in India and brought him the Rishab award. The film was taken as evidence in various court rulings for reforms in favour of animal rights in India. His footage on circus animals was used in the campaign to ban the use of animals in circuses in India. His most recent productions are "Diminishing Resources" under the UK Environment Fellowship and "Don't Buy Trouble". His other films include Seasons "In the Sun" on the Keoladeo National Park and a short film, "Return to the Wild". His documentary on Siberian cranes has been shown at the Ramsar Convention in Moscow and is the only documentation of the Siberian Project in India. The film "Flight to Discovery" on bird sanctuaries of Uttar Pradesh was screened at Vatavaran 2002. He is currently working on a film on the Gulf of Mannar Trust in Tamil Nadu and a film on the zoos of India. Malhotra is honorary wildlife warden of Delhi and is a member of the advisory board of the National Zoological Park, Delhi.
Himanshu Malhotra has completed his masters in mass communication from York University and Mass Communication Research Centre, Jamia Millia Islamia, Delhi.
Sunil's work within the Sustainable Development and Corporate Responsibility arm of ABN AMRO/ RBS includes Technical assistance/capacity building of nascent Microfinance institutions, promotion of microenterprise/livelihoods among communities dependent on critical ecosystem resources thereby achieving sustainable, community backed conservation; Employee engagement and employee training in community and environment issues; business advisory on community and environment risk. Prior to this, Sunil has spent 20 years with NABARD in agriculture project management, rural infrastructure development, rural bank supervision, Credit and natural resource planning, Self Help Groups and microfinance promotion.
As a wildlife activist he has worked towards the promotion of conservation of key species like tiger and its habitats. He has undertaken field work in enumeration, tracking, surveys, training; lobbying and campaigning and has also handled community based conservation initiatives
Sanjay Barnela is a part of a Delhi based production team with specific interests in the issues related to environment and development. He specializes in camerawork and has worked on a range of issues from the politics of shepherds accessing grazing pastures in the Himalayas to the politics of water. Much of this work has taken place in the high mountains, including the filming of a few mountaineering climbs above 20,000 feet. Over the past decade the team has produced a number of films which have been screened at several national and international film festivals, apart from being telecast on television. Some of his better known documentaries are Turf Wars, Hunting Down Water, River Taming Mantras and Pastoral Politics. Hunting Down Water won the award for 'Best Documentary' at the Festival du film de Strabourg 2004 and was awarded 'Best Direction' at the Festival du Cinema de Paris. River Taming Mantras won the Best Documentary award at Vatavaran 2005, Wildlife and Environment Film Festival, Delhi. Turf Wars won the 3rd prize at Jeevika 2003 – a National Livelihoods Film Festival, Delhi. Village of Dust, City of Water was nominated in the One Planet award category at Wildscreen Film Festival 2006, Bristol, UK and has won the Best Film in the environment category in Wild Life Asia 2007, Singapore.
The Award Jury (Indian Category) for 6th CMS VATAVARAN 2011 consisted of eminent individuals from different walks of life. The Jury was headed by Mr Suresh P Prabhu, former Union Minister for Environment and Forests and had five distinguished members (Bio given below). The Jury met from Oct 20-22 at New Delhi to select the best of CMS VATAVARAN nominated films for awards. The awards will be presented during the Award Nite ceremony on Dec 9, 2011 at New Delhi.
