Pankaj R Sekhsaria

Pankaj works with the Kalpavriksh Environmental Action Group based in Pune where his main responsibility is editing, publishing and distributing the Protected Area (PA) Update, a bimonthly newsletter that carries news from wildlife sanctuaries and national parks from India and South Asia. He has worked extensively in the Andaman & Nicobar Islands and co-ordinates an active e-discussion group dedicated to the issues there. He is also author of the Troubled Islands on the Andaman and Nicobar Islands .

He also works as a freelance journalist and photographer and has published nearly 150 articles and photo features in the mainstream Indian press on issues related to wildlife conservation, and people’s livelihoods rights. He was awarded the National Foundation for India Media Fellowship 2006-07 to write on issues of the A&N Islands and the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) Media fellowship – 2008 to report on issues of human-wildlife conflict.

A graduate from the Mass Communication Research Centre, Jamia, and New Delhi, he co-produced the investigative documentary, The Yellow Haze, which helped in getting a Supreme Court ban on the illegal use of the drug Quinacrine ( a malarial drug) used insitu for female sterilisation. He has also assisted in wildlife film projects in Assam and in the Andaman islands. Some of his work and pictures can be seen at www.pankaj-atcrossroads.blogspot.com