Zafar Rashid Futehally (born 19 March 1920) is an Indian naturalist and conservationist best known for his work as the secretary of the Bombay Natural History Society and for the Newsletter for Birdwatchers a periodical that helped birdwatchers around India to communicate their observations.
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Zafar Futehally was born in Andheri in 1920. He studied economics at St. Xavier's College in Bombay and worked with Dynacraft Machine Company from 1942. The company was run along with his brother and cousin. He was a distant cousin of Salim Ali and is married to Laeeq Futehally, a niece of Salim Ali.[1] Their daughters Zahida (Zai) and Shama took to writing. Zai wrote biographies of Romulus Whitaker and Salim Ali. Shama who died in 2004 was the author of novels "Tara Lane" and "Reaching Bombay Central", a translator of the Meera Bhajans and Urdu poetry apart from numerous other literary works.[2][3][4] In 1973 he moved to Bangalore where he lived for a while in the Palace orchards area before moving to a farm house in Dodda Gubbi on the outskirts of Bangalore, but a dacoit attack there forced him to move to Kodaikanal with their daughter for four years before returning to live in Koramangala in Bangalore.[5]
He founded the Newsletter for Birdwatchers, a periodical, in 1959 and became Honorary Secretary of the Bombay Natural History Society remaining until 1973 when he moved from Bombay to Bangalore. The "newsletter" included Salim Ali, Biswamoy Biswas and other eminent ornithologists of its time on the editorial board and was for many years mimeographed and distributed to subscribers in India and outside. In later years the covers were printed and still later the entire issue was printed. The newsletter encouraged an essay style of writing and some authors like Ramachandra Guha found their first opportunity to publish their writings in it. The Newsletter for Birdwatchers continues to be popular among birdwatchers interested in the India region.[6][7]
In 1965 he was involved in organizing the IUCN meeting at New Delhi and became a member of its executive board in 1966. He became Vice-President of the IUCN in 1969, received the Padma Shri in 1970, Order of the Golden Ark in 1980 and the Karnataka Rajyotsava award of 1983.[1] In 1973, Futehally was a member of the committee that was set up to study the impact of a dam on the river Kuntipuzha which threatened to destroy the forests of the Silent Valley region.[8] He was also a steering group member of Project Tiger, during the early years of its establishment.[9]
During his position at the BNHS and the World Wildlife Fund he was able to lobby for various kinds of action chiefly by influencing the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.[10] In later years, he continued to write about conservation issues particularly in Bangalore. In one issue, the government of Karnataka handed over lakes (particularly Hebbal Lake) within the city to private hoteliers and water-based entertainment companies. This was opposed by many citizens as being contradictory to the role of government in public welfare. Zafar Futehally held the view that private enterprise could be conservation and welfare-oriented, a view which did not receive widespread support.[11][12][13]
Futehally wrote numerous popular articles in the media. One of his early publications on a Paradise Flycatcher inspired the Indian poet Nissim Ezekiel to write a poem about it.[14][15] As the founder and editor of the Newsletter for Birdwatchers, he selected articles from bird enthusiasts and friends in India as well as from outside. The articles were selected for readability rather than dry scientific communication although many scientific observations were made in its pages. He also edited and published an anthology of writings by Indian birdwatchers, "India through its birds", which was published in 2007.