Tuesday 26 March 2024

The Great African Seaforest

(Click on the image for a larger view)

In one of my lengthiest and most detailed illustration projects yet, I got the honour of working closely with the fabulous team at The Seachange Project (creators of the Oscar winning documentary 'My Octopus Teacher')- to create a vision of hope for the Great African Seaforest, a vast expanse of kelp forest in the Atlantic Ocean along the western coast of South Africa. From the glamorous Cape Fur Seal, Cape Clawless Otter and the African Penguin to little known klipfish and limpets, the Great African Seaforest is home to a myriad marine organisms that make the kelp a living, breathing, and a dancing ecosystem! Many of these creatures are threatened by overfishing and anthropogenic disturbances today, and conservationists at the Seachange Project are working towards establishing safe, undisturbed habitats for these species to bounce back.

The illustration is available as a freely downloadable resource on the organization's website here. A massive thanks to the Seachange team (Swati Thiyagarajan, Craig Foster, Carina Frankal, Dani Ehrlich, Jannes Landschoff) for trusting me with the illustration, for having me at Cape Town for a field visit, and for their patience through the project!








Sunday 24 March 2024

Environmental Threats to Ladakh


Mass hunger strikes and protests are underway in Ladakh for environmental, cultural and governmental safeguards. But Ladakh's wildlife doesn't even need to go on a hunger strike! 


Thursday 21 March 2024

The Saga of the Saiga Antelope


If you too have had a long face reading about the decimation of the Saiga Antelope's populations from hunting and disease over the years, there's some news that might bring a smile to your face too! Efforts by the Kazakh government, NGOs and people have paid off enough to bring the Saiga from critically endangered to near-threatened on the IUCN Red List. In these times, that's a long jump, even for an antelope!

Not-so-fun-fact: The bird in the comic strip, a Sociable Lapwing, is a critically endangered steppe species too.

Comic for DW Envronment.