ET Awards: We should look beyond speciesism — industry relies on nature, says Meera Jain, Founder, Evoke

Amidst the glittering crystal and gleaming damask of the ET Awards for Corporate Excellence came an unusual address. “My keynote today is to unlock your conscience,” said Mrs Meera Jain, founder of Evoke. Mentioning startling numbers — “1,50,000 animals perish each minute” — she outlined the Sixth Extinction, a manifestation of the Anthropocene, the era of human impacts reshaping Earth. “Humanity has wiped out 60% of the world’s wildlife since 1970,” she stated, adding ironically, “That’s thanks to Alfred Nobel’s gunpowder. So much for the Nobel Prize”

However, humans can stop this apocalypse. She mentioned praiseworthy initiatives from the world of enterprise seeking to help nonhuman species. She described a visit to Vantara, the animal rescue and rehabilitation centre established by Anant Ambani. Vantara provides world-class care to species rescued from poachers, wildlife traffickers and circuses globally. Its devotion to endang e r e d a n i m a l s shows humanity at its best, she remarked. She lauded Ratan Tata’s hospital for dogs and small animals i n Mu mb a i and urged directors of Tata companies to devote more CSR funds to animal welfare.

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“Many of us here are engaged in succession planning,” she mentioned, explaining how, while seeking to smoothly hand over their life’s work to the next generation, humans can fall prey to speciesism. “This is the illusion that only human lives matter because only humans can create value.” She then spotlighted how nature’s ecosystems generate tremendous value, with animals providing stability and abundance to our planet.

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“Industry relies on the conservation of nature,” she emphasised, explaining “the real math underpinning our existence”. She then urged a “focus on all life in CSR”. This could alter spheres, from entertainment to the militaryindustrial complex, inspiring humans to see non-human lives not as commodities but as “an anthology of loss”. The extinction crisis is real but it can be transformed into a story of rejuvenation through corporate efforts. “These”, she said, “would be ethical, evocative — and smart business.”