Bibhab Kumar Talukdar

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Dr. Bibhab Kumar Talukdar photographed on field during a sunny day Dr. Bibhab Kumar Talukdar photographed on field during a sunny day.jpg
Dr. Bibhab Kumar Talukdar photographed on field during a sunny day

Bibhab Kumar Talukdar
Born1968
Dhubri, Assam
NationalityIndian
Education Gauhati University
OccupationConservation Biologist
Years active1989–present
Known forAaranyak and Asian Rhino Conservation
Awards The Harry Messel Award by IUCN, 2024,
  • IUCN Species Survival Commission Chair’s Citation Award, 2008 [1]

Bibhab Kumar Talukdar is an Indian conservation biologist. He is the founder of Aaranyak, a leading wildlife non-governmental organization based in Guwahati, India. It is a Scientific, Industrial Research and frontline environmental organization in India. [2]

Contents

He has been the Chair of Asian Rhino Specialist Group of the IUCN since 2007 and was a member of the National Board of Wildlife under the government of India. He worked in the monitoring of Asian Rhinos and their habitats. Working in South and South-East Asia, he studied the threats posed to Asian Rhinos due to the impact of climate change. [3]

Early life

Bibhab Kumar Talukdar appeared for his Bachelor of Science examinations in 1989. During this time, he founded Aaranyak in Assam as a nature club encouraging and engaging youths in birding. Assam was amid political unrest during the 1980s and early 1990s. Aaranyak came as a piece of positive news during this period. It is now Northeast India's biggest non-government biodiversity conservation & research organisation. [4]


Life description

Dr. Bibhab Kumar Talukdar is currently the secretary general and Executive Director of Aaranyak. The Aaranyak team consists of wildlife biologists, researchers and conservation workers and has its headquarters in Guwahati, India.[ citation needed ]

He was a member of the Standing Committee of the National Board of Wildlife, Govt. of India from July 2007 until May 2010. [5]   From 2010 to 2012, he was a member of the Project Elephant Steering Committee, Govt. of India and the committee for the formulation of the National Wildlife Action Plan for 2017–2031. [6]

He is a member of the Assam State Biodiversity Board. [7] He is also a member of the Editorial Board of Pachyderm - a journal of IUCN SSC African Elephant Specialist Group, African Rhino Specialist Group and Asian Rhino Specialist Group.

Dr. Talukdar has been appointed as Professor of Practice by the Girijananda Chowdhury University, Guwahati, Assam, India in June 2025 following the guidelines of University Grants Commission of India. The University hopes that Dr. Talukdar in his new role as Professor of Practice can provide students with invaluable real-world insights and practical knowledge. This directly fulfills a key objective of the National Education Policy 2020.

Let us explore the life journey of Dr. Bibhab Talukdar--

→ Bibhab founded Aaranyak as a registered society to promote conservation awareness in 1989. → In 1991, Bibhab attended four-week training at the International Centre for Conservation Education (ICCE) at Cheltenham, UK.

ICCE, UK 1991 ICCE, UK 1991.jpg
ICCE, UK 1991

→ Bibhab invited a resource person namely Adam Adomou from the International Centre for Conservation Education (ICCE) based at Cheltenham to Guwahati and conducted 5-day teacher’s training on environmental education in 1992 jointly with SCERT (State Council of Education Research and Training, Assam). → In 1994, Dr Talukdar started Rhino conservation awareness activities in fringe villages of Rhino bearing areas in Assam to inculcate in the minds of local community’s love for rhino. → He attended 4-week training on Environment Education and Social Marketing on 1995 at the Conservation and Research Centre of Smithsonian Institution of USA, held by North American Association for Environment Education (NAAEE).

NAAEE, 1995 NAAEE 1995.jpg
NAAEE, 1995

→ In 1997, Dr Talukdar started legal awareness for frontline forest staff in Assam with the help of a few advocates from Gauhati High Court to ensure that legal provisions to protect environment, forests and wildlife are used to help save environment and biodiversity.

Bibhab during equipment distribution to the Kaziranga National Park authority in the early days of Aaranyak Bibhab during equipment distribution to the Kaziranga National Park authority in the early days of Aaranyak.jpg
Bibhab during equipment distribution to the Kaziranga National Park authority in the early days of Aaranyak

→ Bibhab initiated Wetland Conservation Awareness among villagers of only Ramsar site in Assam – The Dipor Bill on 2001. → In 2002, for the first time, Bibhab's brainchild Aaranyak recruited four paid employees for Dipor Bil wetland Conservation activities. From mere four paid staff in 2002 Aaranyak grew further under the leadership of Dr. Bibhab Talukdar and as of August 2025, Aaranyak is having about 220 paid staff working for over 40 projects. → During 2006, Bibhab Talukdar took leadership to get Aaranyak recognized as a Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation by Department of Scientific and Industrial Research, Ministry of Science and Technology, Govt. of India that helped Aaranyak to import research equipments with discounted Customs Duties and making the organization compete for funding opportunities in the field of research under science and technology promotion schemes of Government of India. → Bibhab further updated rhino conservation awareness in schools by naming the activity as Rhino Goes to School in 2010. Since then over 350 schools have been covered around rhino bearing areas in the past 14 years covering about 30000 students and 400 teachers for massive rhino conservation awareness. → During 2011, to check illegal wildlife crime and assist in the scene of wildlife crime investigation, Bibhab launched K9 sniffer dog units in Assam to assist forest and police officials to track down the exit route of wildlife poachers and smugglers from the scene of crime. As of 2024, seven K9 units are assisting five rhino bearing areas in Assam.

Dr. Bibhab Talukdar with one of the K9 heroes from the K9 sniffer dog unit he founded to fight wildlife crime in Assam Dr. Bibhab Talukdar with one of our K9 heroes of the K9 Sniffer dog unit founded by himshelf.jpg
Dr. Bibhab Talukdar with one of the K9 heroes from the K9 sniffer dog unit he founded to fight wildlife crime in Assam

→ Bibhab took lead with IUCN Species Survival Commission Conservation Planning Specialist Group to prepare Population and Habitat Viability Analysis of three species of Asian Rhinos during 2014-15. → In 2024, he has been conferred ‘The Harry Messel Award’ for Conservation Leadership by the Species Survival Commission (SSC) of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). → Bibhab has been appointed as Professor of Practice by Girijananda Chowdhury University in June 2025 for his invaluable experience in wildlife research and conservation which is likely to benefit students unique perspectives on environmental policy-making and conservation leadership.

Work in Asian Rhino conservation

Bibhab Kumar Talukdar was appointed as the Chair of the Asian Rhino Specialist Group in 2007 for his work towards the conservation of Asian Rhinos. [8]

He also contributed to the conservation and management of critically endangered Javan and Sumatran Rhinos along with Indonesian conservation agencies. [9]

To curb the occurrences of rhino poaching and for awareness of its conservation, Bibhab Kumar Talukdar initiated legal orientation workshops for forest officials starting in 1998. He coordinated legal orientation workshops for Assam police, Sasashtra Seema Bal (SSB) and Border Security forces (BSF) in his state. [10]  

Dr Bibhab Kumar Talukdar with a rescued Indian Rhino Calf Dr Bibhab Talukdar with a rescued Indian Rhino Calf.jpg
Dr Bibhab Kumar Talukdar with a rescued Indian Rhino Calf

Awards

Dr. Talukdar while receiving IUCN's prestigious The Harry Messel Award 1 Dr Bibhab Kumar Talukdar while receiving the award (1).jpg
Dr. Talukdar while receiving IUCN's prestigious The Harry Messel Award
Bibhab Talukdar at CITES CoP19, Panama, 2022 CITES CoP 19 Panama 2022.jpg
Bibhab Talukdar at CITES CoP19, Panama, 2022

Publications

He has published over 60 scientific papers and co-authored two papers published in the journal of Science. He contributed to the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment in the Eastern Himalayas between 2002 and 2004. [13]

Selected works

  1. Talukdar B.K. in Schipper et al. 2008. Status of the World's Land and Marine Mammals: Diversity, Threat, and Knowledge. Science 322: 225-230 [14]
  2. Talukdar, B.K. in Hoffmann et al. 2010. The Impact of Conservation on the Status of the World's Vertebrates. Science 330:1503-1509. [15]
  3. Talukdar, B and Sinha, S 2013. Challenges and opportunities of transboundary rhino conservation in India and Nepal. Pachyderm 54(54):45-51 [16]
  4. Lahkar, B., Talukdar, B. and Sarma, P. 2011. Invasive species in grassland habitat: An ecological threat to the greater one-horned rhino (Rhinoceros unicornis). Pachyderm 49(1) [17]
  5. Havmøller, R.G., Junaidi Payne, Widodo Ramond, Susie Ellis, K. Yoganand, BarneyLong, Eric Dinerstein, Christy Williams, Rudi H. Putra, Jamal Gawi, and Bibhab Kumar Talukdar 2015. Will current conservation responses save the Critically Endangered Sumatran rhinoceros Dicerorhinus sumatrensis? Oryx (Oryx, Page 1 of 5 © 2015 Fauna & Flora International doi : 10.1017/S0030605315000472) [18]
  6. Emslie, R.H.; Milliken, T.; Talukdar, B.; Burgess, G.; Adcock, K.; Balfour, D.; Knight, M.H., 2019. African and Asian rhinoceroses - status, conservation and trade. A report from the IUCN Species Survival Commission (IUCN/SSC) African and Asian Rhino Specialist Groups and TRAFFIC to the CITES Secretariat pursuant to Resolution Conf. 9.14 (Rev. CoP17). Report to CITES 17th meeting (Colombo, June 2019), CoP 18 Doc. annexe annex 3: 1-38 [19]
  7. Ferreira, S. M., Ellis, S., Burgess, G., Baruch-Mordo, S., Talukdar, B., & Knight, M. H. (2022). African and Asian rhinoceroses—Status, Conservation and Trade: A report from the IUCN Species Survival Commission (IUCN/SSC) African and Asian Rhino Specialist Groups and TRAFFIC to the CITES Secretariat pursuant to Resolution Conf. 9.14 (Rev. CoP17) (CoP19 Doc. 75 (Rev.1) Annex 4). CITES Secretariat.

Chapters in Books:

  1. Talukdar, B.K. 2004. Ecology. In V.P. Singh et al. (eds.), The Brahmaputra Basin Water Resources, 351-365. Kluwer Academic Publishers. The Netherlands.
  2. Talukdar B.K; Williams C., Dutta D.K.; Subedi N.; Long B.( 2017) Rhinoceros unicornis, Greater One Horned Rhinoceros. Rhinoceronate Indio in Mittermeier, R. A.,Rylands, A. B., Sechrest W., Langhammer, P. F., Mittermeier, J. C., Parr, M. J., Konstant, W. R. & Mast, R. B. (eds.). 2017. Bac from the Brink / Desde el Umbral de la Extinción. CEMEX, S. A., Mexico, pp 50-52
  3. Talukdar, B.K. 2021. Brahmaputra flood plains without Rhino seems an incomplete proposition. In Chapter-3 p 39-42. The Restless River. Ganesh Pangare & Bushra Nishat & Xiawei Liao & Halla Maher Qaddumi, 2021. "The Restless River," World Bank Publications - Reports 36258, The World Bank Group.
  4. Talukdar, B.K. 2020. The challenge of protecting Rhinos in India. In: Rahmani, A.R. and Gore, K (Eds.). Saving India’s Wilderness: Challenges and Solutions. The Corbett Foundation of India. 172-179
  5. Sarma, P.K., B.K. Talukdar, P. Baruah and M. Tamuli. 2023. Wildlife Habitat Dynamics and Sustainable Development: Revisiting Pabitora Wildlife Sanctuary of Assam India (p 459-474). In: Advances in Geographical and Environmental Sciences: Sustainable Development Goals in Northeast India. Edited by: Subhash Anand, Madhushree Das, Rituparna Bhattacharyya, R. B. Singh. Published by Springer
  6. Talukdar, B.K., Dutta, D.K., Thapa, K., Choudhury, A. (2025). Greater One-Horned Rhino Rhinoceros unicornis Linnaeus, 1758. In: Melletti, M., Talukdar, B., Balfour, D. (eds) Rhinos of the World. Fascinating Life Sciences. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-67169-2_5
  7. Talukdar, B.K., Jnawali, S.R., Bonal, B.S., Swargoyari, A., Sharma, A., Dutta, D.K., Subedi, N., Pant, G. (2025). The Recovery of the Greater One-Horned Rhinoceros in India and Nepal. In: Melletti, M., Talukdar, B., Balfour, D. (eds) Rhinos of the World. Fascinating Life Sciences. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-67169-2_11
  8. Vigne, L., ’t Sas-Rolfes, M., Milliken, T., Rademeyer, J., Talukdar, B. (2025). The Impact of Rhino Horn Trafficking on Conservation. In: Melletti, M., Talukdar, B., Balfour, D. (eds) Rhinos of the World. Fascinating Life Sciences. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-67169-2_16
  9. ‘t Sas-Rolfes, M., Rademeyer, J., Vigne, L., Emslie, R., Knight, M., Gaymer, J., Talukdar, B. (2025). The Impact of Poaching on Rhino Conservation. In: Melletti, M., Talukdar, B., Balfour, D. (eds) Rhinos of the World. Fascinating Life Sciences. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-67169-2_15

References

  1. 1 2 "Sumatran rhino likely to go extinct unless action is taken urgently, warns IUCN". IUCN. 21 September 2015. Retrieved 17 August 2022.
  2. ↑ "G Plus Vol 4 issue 12 by G Plus". issuu.com. 13 January 2017. Retrieved 16 August 2022.
  3. ↑ "World Rhino Day 2019: IUCN Asian Rhino Specialist Group Chair Bibhab Kumar Talukdar appeals for a strong community movement for protection of greater one-horned rhino". nezine.com. Retrieved 16 August 2022.
  4. ↑ "Police will have to protect rhinos and tigers from poachers: Experts". Financialexpress. 6 December 2019. Retrieved 16 August 2022.
  5. ↑ "Member Profile | Assam State Biodiversity Board | Government Of Assam, India". asbb.assam.gov.in. Retrieved 23 August 2022.
  6. ↑ "National Wildlife Action Plan WII" (PDF). National Wildlife Action Plan.
  7. ↑ "Member Profile | Assam State Biodiversity Board | Government Of Assam, India". asbb.assam.gov.in. Retrieved 17 August 2022.
  8. ↑ "Bibhab Talukdar to head rhino specialist group". assamtribune.com. 15 September 2010. Retrieved 16 August 2022.
  9. ↑ "Assam conservationist appointed to Indonesian Rhino Task Force". The Times of India. 3 May 2010. Retrieved 17 August 2022.
  10. ↑ "Assam Cops Sensitised On Wildlife Crimes". The Times of India. 19 February 2022. Retrieved 17 August 2022.
  11. ↑ "Bibhab Kumar Talukdar | Ashoka | Everyone a Changemaker". www.ashoka.org. Retrieved 16 August 2022.
  12. ↑ Shukla, Piyush (28 October 2024). "Bibhab Talukdar Wins IUCN's Top Conservation Leadership Award". adda247. Retrieved 5 November 2024.
  13. ↑ Talukdar, Bibhab. "Millennium assessment" (PDF). Millennium Assessment: 24.
  14. ↑ Schipper, Jan; Chanson, Janice S.; Chiozza, Federica; Cox, Neil A.; Hoffmann, Michael; Katariya, Vineet; Lamoreux, John; Rodrigues, Ana S. L.; Stuart, Simon N.; Temple, Helen J.; Baillie, Jonathan; Boitani, Luigi; Lacher, Thomas E.; Mittermeier, Russell A.; Smith, Andrew T. (10 October 2008). "The status of the world's land and marine mammals: diversity, threat, and knowledge". Science. 322 (5899): 225–230. Bibcode:2008Sci...322..225S. doi:10.1126/science.1165115. ISSN   1095-9203. PMID   18845749. S2CID   45416687.
  15. ↑ Hoffmann, Michael; Hilton-Taylor, Craig; Angulo, Ariadne; Böhm, Monika; Brooks, Thomas M.; Butchart, Stuart H. M.; Carpenter, Kent E.; Chanson, Janice; Collen, Ben; Cox, Neil A.; Darwall, William R. T.; Dulvy, Nicholas K.; Harrison, Lucy R.; Katariya, Vineet; Pollock, Caroline M. (10 December 2010). "The impact of conservation on the status of the world's vertebrates". Science. 330 (6010): 1503–1509. Bibcode:2010Sci...330.1503H. doi:10.1126/science.1194442. hdl: 11336/75487 . ISSN   1095-9203. PMID   20978281. S2CID   32375022.
  16. ↑ "Challenges and opportunities of transboundary rhino conservation in India and Nepal".
  17. ↑ "Invasive species in grassland habitat, an ecological threat to the greater one horned rhinoceros unicornis".
  18. ↑ Havmøller, Rasmus Gren; Payne, Junaidi; Ramono, Widodo; Ellis, Susie; Yoganand, K.; Long, Barney; Dinerstein, Eric; Williams, A. Christy; Putra, Rudi H.; Gawi, Jamal; Talukdar, Bibhab Kumar; Burgess, Neil (3 August 2015). "Will current conservation responses save the Critically Endangered Sumatran rhinoceros Dicerorhinus sumatrensis ?". Oryx. 50 (2): 355–359. doi: 10.1017/S0030605315000472 . ISSN   0030-6053. S2CID   208526639.
  19. ↑ "IUCN SSC report".
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