IN 1926, two boys were born. The first arrived on May 8 in London, a child who would later collect fossils, roam around his father’s university campus, and never doubt that the natural world was his home. The second arrived seven weeks later on June 30 in Lahore, a boy who learned commerce at his brothers’ side, grew up in the Walled City with friends who would scatter during the Partition era, but with whom he stayed in touch for the rest of his life.

The first boy was David Attenborough; the second Syed Babar Ali. The world recently marked Attenborough’s 100th birthday with deserved celebrations. Soon, the man born seven weeks after Attenborough will also turn 100. The world does not know that their lives have run in parallel.

I write this not as a distant observer. When I was establishing the Leadership for Environment and Development (LEAD-Pakistan) in 1994, with Dr Parvez Hassan as its chair, Syed Babar Ali opened his doors at the newly created Lums campus without hesitation, offering not just a venue but his conviction that leadership development was as important as any other form of conservation. In 2001, he opened his arms and his home when I brought 250 LEAD trainees from more than 80 countries to Pakistan for what was, to my knowledge, the largest leadership development initiative the country had seen.

That was not hospitality. That was a statement of faith in leadership, in young people, in Pakistan’s capacity to stand at the centre of global environmental conversations. I have followed Attenborough’s work for as long. Watching the........

© Dawn