Sanctuary Asia

Sanctuary Asia
Editor Bittu Sahgal
Categories Environmental news magazine
Frequency Monthly
Circulation 2,00,000 (Feb. 2012)
Rs.100 per issue
Year founded 1981
Company Sanctuary Features
Based in Mumbai
Website www.sanctuaryasia.com

Sanctuary Asia is India's first and one of its leading environmental news magazines. The publication is a privately owned, self-supporting venture and does not accept any donations. Its funding sources are advertisements, subscriptions and content provision. It is published in a bimonthly cycle at a one-year, six-issue individual subscription price of Rs.575/-.[1]

History

Sanctuary Asia was founded in 1981 by its current editor, the conservationist, Bittu Sahgal as Sanctuary to raise awareness among Indians of their disappearing natural heritage. It became a syndicated publication under the banner of Sanctuary Features. Presently, the magazine is attractively packaged [2] with colored photographs, and an associated website. Starting with the February 2012 issue, Sanctuary Asia is increasing the number of pages and fully revamping its visual format. They also announced the Wild Maharashtra photography contest in that issue.

Publications

In the early 1990s, Sanctuary reached out to a larger readership through the syndication of articles. Sanctuary Features was established to access the mainstream press to express alternate views on wildlife and development issues. Features covers a variety of subjects including travel, science, health, nutrition and the politics of development. Sanctuary Features is now also a leading content provider for websites interested in the above subjects.

Associated periodical publications brought out by Sanctuary Features include: Sanctuary Cub: A bi-monthly magazine for children (from 1984) and The Ecologist Asia: the Indian edition of the United Kingdom-based environmental magazine, The Ecologist (from 1993).

Sanctuary Features also publishes books on the environment and conservation. Recent books include: India Naturally, The Bandhavgarh Inheritance, The Sundarbans Inheritance, The Bharatpur Inheritance, The Kaziranga Inheritance, The Corbett Inheritance and The Periyar Inheritance.[3]

Sanctuary Asia has an associated film production company - Sanctuary Films. Sanctuary Films produced two popular mini-series for the national television channel Doordarshan in the 1980s: Project Tiger, a series of documentaries on the landmark conservation initiative Project Tiger, and Rakshak, a narrative serial for children with environmental themes.[1]

The Sanctuary Photo Library, a stock photo agency, has a fully computerised database of images that are available on request. their focus is on Indian/Asian natural history. It is used by academicians, picture researchers for publications, non-profits, websites, advertising agencies and corporate communicators. Sanctuary Photo Library is a melting pot of natural history visuals, information and resources used to produce some of the finest wildlife and nature calendars, posters, slide shows, exhibitions and other products available in India. These high quality products are available at reasonable rates for republication anywhere.[1]

Environmental advocacy

Sanctuary Asia is also directly involved with environmental activism, often running media campaigns for specific conservation causes.[4]

They sponsor the Sanctuary Wildlife Awards "Earth Heroes", a Sanctuary Asia initiative, supported by DSP BlackRock and Deutsche Bank India, that seek to honour the extraordinary achievements of ordinary people. These annual wildlife achievement trophies and awards are presented in the fields of photography, wildlife conservation and wildlife service in India. In 2011 the awards ranged in value from Rs. 150,000. to Rs. 20,000. They included: Lifetime Service Award, Wildlife Service Award, Green Teacher Award, Wildlife Photographer of the Year Award, Young Naturalist Awards and Wind Under The Wings Award.[5]

References

  1. 1 2 3 Bittu Sahgal, ed. (January 2012). "About Us". Sanctuary Asia. Retrieved 9 January 2012.
  2. Various authors, India, pp. 76; Lonely Planet Publications, 2005
  3. Sahgal, Bittu (5 January 2012). "Sanctuary Books". Sanctuary Asia. Retrieved 9 January 2012.
  4. McShane, Thomas O., and Michael P. Wells (eds), Getting Biodiversity Projects to Work: Towards More Effective Conservation and Development, Columbia University Press, 2004. ISBN 0-231-12764-2.
  5. "About the Sanctuary Wildlife Awards 2011". Earth Heroes. Sanctuary Asia. 2011. Retrieved 9 January 2012.
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