The Elephant at the UN: Wildlife Trust of India director presents Foreman Biodiversity Lecture

Vivek Menon of the Wildlife Trust of India spoke at Stetson on Feb. 1.

Vivek Menon of the Wildlife Trust of India spoke at Stetson on Feb. 1. Photo by Merve Ozcan.

Vivek Menon, the executive director and CEO of Wildlife Trust of India, presented a talk Feb. 1 on “The Elephant at the UN” as the first in the spring semester series of Edward and Bonnie Foreman Biodiversity Lectures at Stetson University College of Law.

“Don’t forget the local people when negotiating biodiversity deals,” Menon told the law students in the audience. “Consider every person a human being and see what moves him or her into making the decision that you want.”

Menon is an elephant conservation expert based in India who is also a biologist, author and international relations expert in the area of biodiversity. For three decades, he has worked on endangered Indian fauna in roles ranging from scientist to undercover operative and wildlife crime-buster, to international negotiator and advisor to the Indian government. The Wildlife Trust of India is the largest wildlife conservation organization in India.

The Foreman Biodiversity Lecture Series at Stetson continues on March 1 with Anne Harvey Holbrook of Save the Manatee Club presenting on manatee conservation, and on March 22 with Dr. Ruth Cromie of the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust, UK, presenting on highly pathogenic avian influenza.

Lectures are free and open to the public, coordinated through Stetson’s Institute for Biodiversity Law and Policy. RSVP for lunch to [email protected].

To learn more about the Institute, visit stetson.edu/law/international/biodiversity/.