Aban Marker Kabraji
was appointed Regional Director, IUCN Asia Region in July 1999.
She began her
career in Pakistan as a biological quality control manager in the
private sector, which led her towards nature and environmental concerns.
In 1980 she moved into the emerging Nature Conservation Movement
in Pakistan, working with the Marine Turtle Conservation Project
for 5 years. In 1985, Aban played a key role in initiating work
on the Pakistan National Conservation Strategy (NCS). From 1988,
she was appointed Country Representative of IUCN Pakistan and was
instrumental in building IUCN Pakistan to its present profile: a
recognised stakeholder in the environmental policy community of
the country.
She also played
a major role in supporting the creation of new civil society institutions,
e.g., the Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI). Interestingly,
she was also one of the founders of Shirkat Gah (first women’s
development NGO in Pakistan) and has written several papers on environmental
and development issues. In 1994, her efforts were acknowledged when
she was appointed to the Order of the Golden Ark by the Grand Master
of the Order, His Royal Highness Prince Bernhard of the Netherlands.
Currently, as
Regional Director, she represents IUCN and the Director General
in Asia at the level of government, donors, members, partners, Commissions
and intergovernmental fora. She provides strategic direction to
the development, resourcing and implementation of the Asia Programme
by combining all elements of IUCN within the context of the major
environmental conventions, regional intergovernmental and civil
society institutions, development banks and multilateral/bilateral
donors. She is also primarily responsible for the overall management
of IUCN programmes and projects in the Asia Region (South Asia,
Southeast Asia, Northeast Asia and China) and ensures the financial
viability and accountability of IUCN’s operations and programme
implementation in Asia.
Over the past
fifteen years Aban has served on the board of and in an advisory
capacity to numerous organisations. She was selected as a McClusky
Fellow at Yale University School of Forestry and Environmental Studies
from January to May, 2003, designing and teaching a course “Ecology
in Practice: Issues in Conservation and Development in Asia”.
This focused on the challenge of bringing ecology into practice
through the design and implementation of conservation and development
initiatives.
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