Sumaira Abdulali

Sumaira Abdulali
Born (1961-05-22) 22 May 1961 (age 63)
Mumbai, India
Known forAwaaz Foundation, MITRA
RelativesSalim Ali[1]Humayun Abdulali Zafar Futehally
Tyabji family (maternal)[2]
AwardsMother Teresa Awards, Ashoka Fellow
Scientific career
FieldsEnvironmentalism, wildlife conservation, noise pollution, sand mining
InstitutionsBombay Natural History Society

Sumaira Abdulali, born 22 May 1961 is an environmentalist from Mumbai, India, founder of the NGO Awaaz Foundation and convenor of the Movement against Intimidation, Threat and Revenge against Activists (MITRA). She was co-chairman of the Conservation Subcommittee and honorary secretary of Asia's oldest and largest environmental NGO, the Bombay Natural History Society, and was a Governing Council Member between 2008 and 2021.[3][4][5]

Through legal interventions, advocacy and public campaigns, contribution to documentary films, television debates and press articles she has successfully mainstreamed and built consciousness about previously unknown environmental hazards, notably noise pollution[6] and sand mining,[7][8] and has won national and International awards for her work. She also set up the first network for protection of activists in India after an attack on her by the sand mafia is 2004.[9]

She has been referred to as "one of India's foremost environmental activists."[10]

  1. ^ d'Silva, Elsamarie (24 November 2021). She is: Stories of women advancing the sustainable development goals in India. ISBN 9781684946518. Archived from the original on 24 March 2023. Retrieved 24 February 2023.
  2. ^ Her silent cause: Sumaira Abdulali's fight for a less noisy Mumbai Archived 26 November 2022 at the Wayback Machine. Business Standard.
  3. ^ "2008 interview after Ashoka Fellowship". Mumbai Mirror. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 8 August 2015.
  4. ^ "Sumaira Abdulali joined IBNLive readers for an interaction on the issue of tackling sand mafia". Ibn live. 12 August 2013. Archived from the original on 14 March 2016. Retrieved 3 August 2015.
  5. ^ "Text of Sumaira Abdulali's speech on Noise Pollution at Harvard University". Yahoo!. Archived from the original on 5 March 2016. Retrieved 4 August 2015.
  6. ^ Lakshmi, Rama (3 October 2013). "Sumaira Abdulali fights to lower noise levels in Mumbai, India's capital of noise". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on 24 May 2015. Retrieved 18 July 2015.
  7. ^ "Dredging up trouble". Frontline. 22 July 2015. Archived from the original on 8 January 2021. Retrieved 6 January 2021.
  8. ^ and is a Governing Council
  9. ^ "And now, a 'mitra' for whistle-blowers | Mumbai News – Times of India". The Times of India. 21 July 2004. Archived from the original on 27 January 2021. Retrieved 6 January 2021.
  10. ^ "Sumaira Abdulali – Berkeley Political Review". bpr.berkeley.edu. Archived from the original on 7 August 2019. Retrieved 7 August 2019.