About Vivek Menon
Vivek Menon is a leading Indian wildlife conservationist, environmental commentator, author, and photographer with a passion for elephants. He has been part of the founding of five environmental & nature conservation organizations in India. The winner of the 2019 Clark R Bavin Award, the 2018 Whitley Continuation Award, the 2017 Samskara RoundGlass Lifetime Achievement Award, and the 2001 Rufford Award for International Conservation for his work to conserve the Asian elephant, Menon is the Founder, Executive Director, and CEO of the Wildlife Trust of India.
In the international arena, Menon is the current Chair of the IUCN SSC Asian Elephant Specialist Group, a Member of the Species Survival Commission Steering Committee, and a Member of the Conservation Translocation Specialist Group of the IUCN. With the experience of over 25 years of work with the IUCN, he has served at various earlier times on the Asian Rhino Specialist Group, Cat Specialist Group, Threatened Waterfowl Specialist Group, and the Medicinal Plant Specialist Group. Apart from his work on species-specific matters, he has also served on the Motions Working Group and Review Committees of the World Conservation Congress for the IUCN. He has been on the International Jury of the Future for Nature Awards, the foremost conservation awards of the Netherlands for over 10 years. As Senior Advisor to the President of the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW), he advises the President of IFAW on conservation strategies and partnerships and he has at various times led their tiger, enforcement training, and Asian elephant global initiatives. He has trained enforcement staff of over 50 countries in the prevention of illegal wildlife trade (in the Caribbean, Africa, the former the Soviet Union, The Middle East, and the Pacific islands), served as a consultant to the Kenya Wildlife Services and helped establish the first elephant reserve of Myanmar in the Rakhine Yoma. He has attended CITES meetings for over thirty years, many of which as a Technical Advisor to the Indian delegation and as an observer. He has been intensively involved in CITES planning and policy in collaboration with the CITES Management Authority of India since 1991 and is currently a member of the CITES Cell of the MoEF. Has participated in 8 COPs of CITES and 7 Standing Committee Meetings, one Animal Committee meeting, and two Asian Regional Meetings. Was also a member of the initial workshop that conceptualized and planned the MIKE process in Nairobi, Africa in 1998. In addition, he has been on the Indian delegation to the UNESCO World Natural Heritage meets the Convention on Biological Diversity and Convention on Migratory Species meetings. He has visited over 100 countries, walking the natural forests and wildlands of over half of them and lecturing internationally in over 30 nations, including addressing parliamentarians in the UK and Australia.
In India, he serves on a number of governmental and non-governmental boards and committees and was a member of the Elephant Task Force of the Ministry of Environment and Forests that suggested a complete revamp of India’s elephant conservation strategy. He has in the past served on the Project Elephant Steering Committee, National Wildlife Action Plan Committee, CITES Advisory Committee, Governing Council of the Central Zoo Authority, and a member of several State Advisory Boards for Wildlife. In the interphase between business and Biodiversity, he was the Co-Chair of Leaders for Nature, IUCN, and is still an Advisory Council Member of the CII-ITC Centre of Excellence for Sustainable Development.
He is the author or editor of ten wildlife books including the bestselling Indian Mammals- A Field Guide, scores of technical reports, and more than 250 articles in various scientific and popular publications. Indian Mammals is a landmark publication, being the first of its oeuvre in independent India to be written by an Indian. It has been translated into several languages and printed in several editions around the world.
The Wildlife Trust of India has been founded and headed executively by Menon for over 21 years has pioneered several conservation initiatives, including documenting, prioritizing, and securing the first elephant corridors in India, setting up the country’s first wildlife rescue and the rehabilitation center, training over 20,000 forest guards in anti-poaching, creating ‘rainbow’ products as alternatives to wildlife consumption and creating ‘green livelihoods’ for those involved in community-based conservation. In his capacity as the Executive Director of WTI Menon has raised millions of rupees for conservation in India and has built a team of over 150 professionals. He lives in New Delhi, a city of which he was the Honorary Wildlife Warden for over 20 years.
Contact
Website: www.wti.org.in
Instagram: @wildlifetrustofindia
Twitter: @wti_org_india
Facebook: Wildlife Trust of India
