Bengaluru: Indian environmentalist and former climate negotiator S. Faizi is one of the six recipients of the 2024 Planet Earth Awards, instituted by the Alliance of World Scientists, an international body of scientists based in the United States.
Faizi, who hails from Kerala, has received the award for his contributions to forest conservation, biodiversity research and support of indigenous rights, among other things.
The award “acknowledges individuals who champion life on Earth” and those who “demonstrate exceptional creativity or contributions in their work in science-based advocacy with the public, policymakers, or other non-scientist groups seeking solutions to environmental challenges”.
The Alliance of World Scientists is a new body of around 27,000 scientists across 180 countries.
William Ripple is AWS’s director. He is a scientist at the US’s Conservation Biology Institute and Distinguished Professor at Oregon State University. Ripple was the lead author on the communication – endorsed by 15,364 scientists from 184 countries – titled Global Scientists’ Warning to Humanity: A second Notice in 2017 that warned that people had to practice environmentally sustainable alternatives to counter catastrophic biodiversity loss and other drastic impacts on the natural world due to human activities.
“Dr. Faizi’s accomplishments include important contributions to landmark global events such as the UN Conference on Environment and Development (Earth Summit) and the Convention on Biological Diversity,” the AWS award site notes. “His efforts have ranged from advocating for national sovereignty over biodiversity to proposing the creation of a UN Environmental Security Council. More recently, this former anti-Apartheid activist has campaigned for nuclear disarmament and democratising the UN Security Council.”
The AWS also acknowledged the “pivotal role” Faizi played “in articulating the global South’s stance on key environment and development issues, often overcoming opposition from Western negotiators at UN environmental conferences” during his work as a climate negotiator.
Other recipients of this year’s award include US climate scientist James Hansen, environmental policy specialist Denise Margaret S. Matias of the Philippines, Swedish sustainability scientist Kimberly Nicholas, Australia’s freshwater conservationist Jamie Pittock and biologist Fernando Valladares of Spain.
“These Planet Earth Award recipients provide compelling examples of how scientists can engage in effective science-based advocacy to help address important environmental issues,” Ripple said in a press release. “We hope they will inspire others to act in this regard.”
The Wire’s Aathira Perinchery caught up with Dr. S. Faizi for a brief email interview on the occasion of his award. Below are the excerpts:
Aathira: How does it feel to be one of the six recipients of the 2024 Planet Earth Awards?
Faizi: I am happy about the recognition by the scientific peers, although awards don’t make much sense to me past 60.
As an environmental scientist and activist working on numerous aspects of conservation for more than three decades now, what is the biggest concern or challenge pertaining to the environment in India?
The single most concern I have is about the alienation of the Adivasi community who have been the historical caretakers of our forests and wildlife from their traditional resource base. They could manage our forests and wildlife better than the hugely costly forest bureaucracy presiding over the loss of biodiversity. The good forests in India we have are still in the 169 Adivasi districts.
In this era of climate change, extreme weather events, consumerism and the unparalleled imbalance of power and influence of the rich and corporates, is there still hope for India to get onto a trajectory of sustainable development?
That would be difficult to say. The caste system has left us with a minority of affluence that surpasses the extreme form of western affluence and the massive majority living in poverty and destitution, with the poor outnumbering the poor in all African countries put together. This reign of inequality and injustice makes the pursuit of sustainable resource use and social equity a distant dream.
Environment doesn’t matter at all to this social formation. And now we are witnessing how its political form can turn the country into an environmental nightmare, with the accompaniment of outlandish greenwashing.
