Kartikeya Sarabhai

Kartikeya V Sarabhai

Birth: November 27, 1947 at Mumbai, India.

Education: Tripos in Natural Science from Cambridge University, U.K ; Post Graduate work at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA in Development Communications.

Family: He is son of Dr. Vikram Sarabhai, a renowned scientist in physics and Mrinalini Sarabhai, a noted danseuse. His wife, Mrs Rajshree Sarabhai, founder of Rajka Designs Pvt. Ltd., is a designer and a photographer. His sister Mallika Sarabhai, is also a noted danseuse and activist. He has two children, Mohal and Samvit.

Institution Building:

Kartikeya V. Sarabhai is the founder director of the Centre for Environment Education, Ahmedabad, a national institution engaged in promoting environmental awareness and conservation as well as education for sustainable development.

Starting small in Ahmedabad in 1984, CEE today works at the national and international level with a staff of about 400 professionals and 40 offices across India as well as in [http://www.ceeaustralia.org|CEE Australia] and Srilanka. In 2005, CEE received the Global award for 'Outstanding Service to Environmental Education' from the North American Association for Environmental Education (NAAEE). Mr. Sarabhai also set up [http://www.viksat.org| VIKSAT] an NGO working towards people’s participation in natural resource management as well as 'Sundarvan', a nature discovery centre.

Leadership:

Mr. Sarabhai has served on several committees of the Ministry of Environment and Forests and the Ministry of Human Resource Development, Government of India. These include greening India’s formal education system and initiatives for biodiversity education. Mr. Sarabhai has long been associated with IUCN, and was the Chair of South and South-East Asia, IUCN Commission on Education and Communication. He is currently Vice Chair of the Indian National Commission & Member of the President’s Advisory Board for IUCN. Mr. Sarabhai is the member of the Earth Charter International Council and also a member of the Reference Group for UNESCO DESD Secretariat. Mr. Sarabhai was instrumental in initiating SASEANEE, the South and Southeast Asian Network for EE. He was a member of the Indian delegation to UNCED at Rio and WSSD at Johannesburg and was co-author of India’s report for UNCED. He has been closely associated with communications initiatives of UNEP, especially those connected with Ozone. Mr. Sarabhai has set up collaborative partnerships for CEE with international agencies such as the United States National Parks Service; United States Fish and Wildlife Service; Field Studies Council, U.K.; World Resources Institute, USA; and the South Asia Co-operative Environment Programme and the UNDP GEF Small Grants Programme for which CEE is the National Host Institute. Under his leadership CEE organized the first International Conference of the Decade of Education for Sustainable Development in January 2005.

Recognition:

Mr. Sarabhai received the 'Tree of Learning Award’ from The World Conservation Union in 1998 in appreciation of his contributions to the field of environmental education and communication. In 2005, The Indian Institute of Human Rights presented Mr. Sarabhai with the “World Human Rights Promotion Award”.