Since 1976, the Swiss watch company, Rolex, has been recognising and honouring extraordinary individuals who have taken on challenges in their respective fields — tasks that require dedication and conviction. Their awards ‘aim at fostering a spirit of enterprise around the world’. They award ongoing projects anywhere in the world, ones that deserve support for the capacity to improve lives or protect the environment.
Presented biennially, the awards show no bias to nationality or background. for the first time in its history, the awards ceremony will be held in India this November. passion and relentless efforts bind the five together. Here’s a look at the laureates of 2012 and their journeys in different parts of the world.
Barbara Block, Applied Technology, USA
Trying to protect the marine predators along the coast of North America with the help of technology is Barbara Block. One of the world’s leading marine biologists and a professor, she applies her knowledge in the conservation of marine fauna. Preserving the oceans remains her passion. She explains, “Large marine predators such as sharks and tunas help maintain the delicate balance of our ocean ecosystems, but overfishing, destruction of their habitat and pollution have caused reductions of populations worldwide.”
Creating large protected marine areas in the ocean, she believes, is the solution to preserve feeding and breeding grounds of these creatures. Identifying these locations for the migratory species also proves to be difficult. But Block has helped develop the first pop-up satellite archival tag. “It is a device that can detach itself from the fish on a pre-programmed date and floats to the surface of the sea where it transmits archived data via satellite. We are trying to create a network of marine predator café’s or biological ocean observatories to monitor the animals and relay data on their movements to the lab,” she explains.
For 10 years (2000-2010) she served as co-chief scientist for the tagging of pacific predators programme, which is a component of the Census of Marine Life, an 80-nation undertaking to assess the diversity and abundance of life in the oceans.
What has been the impact of her efforts? “With more than 4,000 electronic tags, 23 species of large predators from six groups (tunas, sharks, turtles, whales, seals and seabirds) were studied in the waters of the North Pacific. We have identified three marine ‘hotspots’ where nutrient-rich waters form attractive hunting grounds for predators, which feast on abundant krill, sardines, anchovies, salmon and squid. The supply of natural prey in these hotspots ensures that populations of white sharks, salmon sharks, shortfin mako sharks and some tunas remain for a large portion of time every year and return after each migration,” she elaborates.
Block is a Charles & Elizabeth Prothro Professor in Marine Sciences Evolutionary, Cellular and Molecular Physiology, at Stanford University, USA. She has also established the Tuna Research and Conservation Center, with the Monterey Bay Aquarium, USA, where her commitment to public engagement is obvious. Her efforts stem from the desire to protect the seas and its inhabitants, and also wanting to encourage the public to change consumption behaviour and influence policy making.
Her ultimate aim is the creation of a large, marine UNESCO World Heritage site off the Californian shore of the United States. Block believes in engaging the public in the sciences in their early stages as curiosity, exploration and discovery or a sense of wonder will come with experiencing the beauty the earth has to offer. She grew up swimming, skiing, hiking and sailing and believes all kids should be introduced to nature this way. “We should advise young people to follow their heart, be inspired by nature, and study across disciplines, not just one, so oceanography and biology, or social science and natural science for better exposure to what is around them,” remarks the 54-year old.
Sergei Bereznuk, Environment, Russia
His first memory of the tiger is in the Jungle Book written by Rudyard Kipling and his childhood visits to the zoo in Novosibirsk, Siberia. When he got past viewing them as mighty and dangerous predators to intelligent cats, he was convinced that conserving the rich flora and fauna of the Russian Far East was his calling. For 17 years, he has been working valiantly to save the Amur tiger, one he grew up to revere and love for its beauty. “From 1995 through 1999, I served as a deputy chief of Inspection Tiger, special department of Primorsky Krai State Committee on Environmental Protection (goskomecology). When working in the field I often met rangers with a great passion for tigers and a strong commitment to nature conservation. I was wondering what driving forces were behind their enthusiasm and why they were ready to risk their lives in order to protect nature. I learned a lot from them, and from that moment on I decided to dedicate my life to nature and tiger conservation,” explains Sergei Bereznuk, director, Phoenix Fund.
Based on his experience, he was convinced that saving the Amur tiger depends on both the efficiency of anti-poaching efforts and the education of the local people. Since 2000 when he was appointed director of the Phoenix Fund, the organisation which carries out a wide range of activities to protect the Amur tiger, he has been supporting anti-poaching units, involved in increasing awareness among people, reversing habitat reduction due to fires and logging and resolution of human-animal conflicts and also providing compensation for damage and monitoring invasive industrial projects in the region.
With a small team of just five people, it takes a lot of dedication to achieve results. “We are motivated by the words of Margaret Mead (US anthropologist and populariser of anthropology (1901 - 1978), ‘Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has,’” he says. He addresses children, hunters and fishermen, journalists, students and educators, environmental law enforcement officers and officials from local administration and state nature conservation agencies. His main challenges have been, “Provincial officials who do not support and understand the importance of our work. Instead, such work is considered the prerogative of the Russian government. The police have little interest in investigation of ecological crimes.” Poaching and illegal trade in wildlife derivatives are big threats.
“During the next 10-20 years, the Phoenix Fund will go on implementing its mission by expanding the borders of the existing projects and developing new ones. I hope that as a result of our joint efforts with local and international NGOs and law enforcement agencies, we will be able to achieve the goal of doubling the tiger numbers worldwide and keeping stable the number of the Amur tigers in Russia.” He advises students to try to do everything professionally or coordinate their steps in nature conservation field with specialists. “Have faith in yourself and your power. Even a small team of dedicated people with a right cause can make a difference.”
Aggrey Otieno, Science and Health, Nairobi
Real life heroes come in all shapes and sizes and don’t come with capes or super powers. Their only powers are taking initiatives and efforts in recognising and solving problems. Meet Aggrey Otieno. Born and raised in the slums of Korogocho, Nairobi, he has seen first-hand what slum dwellers — mainly, women and children — go through. But he went past the poverty and illiteracy to become the only master degree holder and to initiate community development programmes in Kenya. With an MA in communication and development and diploma in Africa Community Health from Ohio University, USA, Otieno has tried to develop health education strategies, a community newspaper, radio channel, advocated girl child empowerment and slum upgradation.
As a student at Ohio University, he adopted a mobile phone technology that is now helping him connect to doctors, traditional birth attendants, residents of Korogocho and community health workers. This has helped educate a larger audience on pregnancy management and also offer transportation to high risk pregnancies to hospitals. “Many pregnant women face so many obstacles that force them to give birth either in their homes or in the homes of traditional birth attendants (TBAs). These TBAs do not have the skills and facilities to help women deliver children safely. Many deaths occur in their hands. I have therefore trained community health workers to do home visits. I am also working with the Ministry of Health in Kenya to train TBAs for them to be safe delivery advocates. The TBAs who now refer to themselves as Safe Delivery Advocates (SDAs), now know how to detect complications before they turn into emergencies. There are social support groups for pregnant women where they are given maternal education, manage to have some savings and the SDAs are training them on how to produce products that will generate income, such as mats and baskets using wood, and also tailoring.”
For effective management and coordination of all the above projects, he founded Pambazuko Mashinani, a non-profit organisation, (Both Pambazuko and Mashinani are Kiswahili words meaning ‘awakening’ and ‘grass root’ respectively) that is educating, empowering and mobilising slum dwellers to gather and prioritise their needs that shall be documented to what is called the people’s manifesto. “Pambazuko Mashinani started out in Korogocho slums, and is gradually evolving and establishing itself as a pioneer in recognising and working with the urban poor themselves to tackle the many challenges faced by the urban poor. Founded last year, our vision is to have a society where the urban poor are empowered to bring about transformative social change in their own lives.”
“Rolex Award is now helping me to construct a telemedicine centre, purchase a van and radio equipment through which I shall continue offering maternal education to the slum dwellers,” he says. He is now scaling up his efforts to other slums in Nairobi. “It’s my hope that within the next five years, I would have built the capacity of slum dwellers to demand for accountability through their community groups and networks. These slum movements will own the projects that I have founded, and manage the projects together with my team at Pambazuko Mashinani.” That’s 2,200 women and at least 1,500 newborns he will be helping save every year. “All of us, in our own small ways can bring change to humanity within our own small communities. Students have a lot of energy, capacity, time, and vibrancy to test our ideas and bring change. It doesn’t matter whether we have donors or money or not. We are the most important resource. The rest shall follow so long as we have the will,” he signs off.
Mark Kendall, Science and Health, Australia
Revolutionising the delivery of vaccinations in the developing world and thereby improving it’s reach and also reducing the outbreak of infectious diseases is Prof Mark Kendall, who has 17 years of experience in vaccine delivery. He explains, “The Nanopatch is a new way of delivering vaccines, designed to improve the reach of vaccines — by targeted delivery to our skin’s immune cells. It is a patch the size of a postage stamp, with an ultra-high density array of projections (invisible to the human eye) that are dry-coated with vaccine. Applying the Nanopatch breaches the tough outer layer of skin to deliver vaccine directly to our abundant immune cell populations just below,” he tells us. Most vaccines are currently delivered into muscle using the needle and syringe, which has few immune cells.
“We have shown that Nanopatch delivery produces significantly improved immune responses than the needle and syringe. As one example, with an influenza vaccine, Nanopatch delivery achieved equivalent protection as the needle and syringe – but with 1/100th of the dose. And because the vaccine is in dry-form, it does not need refrigeration in transportation and storage. Furthermore, the Nanopatch is needle-free (removing needle-phobia and needle-stick injuries), pain-free, simple to use (providing the potential for self-application) and a low-cost,” he says.
All of their vaccinology work so far has been with the mouse model and they are now advancing to test the Nanopatch in human clinical trials. In contradiction to the size of the patch, its effects will be huge. The Nanopatch provides a way of improving the reach of vaccines.
“Currently, 17 million people die each year due to infectious disease. If our excellent immune responses seen in animals are translated to people, then the Nanopatch will help reduce these deaths by improved immune responses. And with the Nanopatch offering a reduced dose, vaccines will be significantly cheaper with a lower logistical burden. This will help to get vaccines to many of those that need them the most within the developing world,” he convinces. Kendall and his team have published studies showing that Nanopatch delivery is versatile, improving many vaccines. These include Human Papilloma Virus (the vaccine he is using in the Rolex Project), influenza (many types), Chikungunya, West Nile Virus and Herpes Simplex Virus. He is one of the leaders at the Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology and yet finds time to teach at the University of Queensland, Australia.
But all’s not rosy for this pathbreaking scientist. “Challenges span from the technical details to dealing with parties like stakeholders too, of course, and obtaining and overseeing the funding to future plans. The Rolex Award will go a long way in accelerating our efforts,” he says. Kendall also believes it is very important to chase challenges and problems that interest you. “And if it takes you away from your area of training or expertise, then don’t be afraid to chase it. Do however, know your capabilities and if you move into a new area, then you will need to be prepared to put in the work and learn what’s required,” he advises.
Erika Cuéllar, Environment, Bolivia
The vast and biodiverse expanse of tropical dry forest between Argentina, Paraguay, Bolivia and Brazil is an area called Kaa-Iya del Gran Chaco, which is home to thousands of indigenous people and South America’s ‘last truly wild environments’. This becomes the focus area of Erica Cuéllar whose work consists of two main aspects: “Ecological research and promotion of participatory biodiversity conservation by training local people in a structured framework.”
Hailing from Bolivia, she is personally attached to the area whose riches have been eroded over the last century. The boundary dispute between Paraguay and Bolivia has resulted in the establishment of a military zone that has created disturbance in the natural habitat. Cattle ranching, agricultural encroachment, poaching, over use of groundwater and construction of a gas pipeline from Bolivia to Brazil have all contributed to the destruction of the grasslands.
She has initiated and led participatory conservation with the indigeous Guaraní people. Grassland management is her speciality, along with building the capacity of the locals to take ownership of the conservation of their habitat.
She is training the locals to become parabiologists and become stakeholders in the conservation of their own habitat. The Gran Chaco houses a variety of indigenous tribes, nomadic hunters, gatherers, fishing communities, farmers and cattle ranchers as well as 3,400 plant species, 500 bird and 150 mammal species.
With an MSc in conservation and PhD in zoology, she says, “Conservation is a difficult journey for anyone. However, witnessing proud parabiologists making the most of the training course, passing exams and helping them become decision makers in what happens to their environment is a wonderful feeling.”
Working in the Gran Chaco isn’t exactly a cakewalk. “It implies a great deal of physical effort adapting to extreme conditions like high temperatures, looking for Guanacos (a camelid native to South America and ancestor of the llama), walking several hours a day and distribution of species in remote areas,” says the 41-year old.
“Also, we deal with several actors like hunters, military and groups involved in different activities on the borders of the country,” she explains. But the need to protect the environment and its people has kept her going for ten years. “I am very optimistic that in five years, parabiologists will be inserted in the decision-making structure of local and central governments,” she adds. She now wants to apply the lessons learned here in Argentina and Paraguay. The need to do something for the environment and people has brought her this far and the award money will hopefully fuel her efforts.
“If I can say something to students, it is that whatever you do to save nature, do not forget that people are a part of it and we need to include them in the process of conservation in order to make it sustainable in the long term,” conveys this enthusiastic environmentalist and Rolex laureate.
preethi@newindianexpress.com