Ecologist Madhav Gadgil Awarded 2015 Tyler Prize for Environment
Madhav Gadgil
Jane Lubchenco
Former IISc professor and ecologist Madhav Gadgil has been named for the top environmental Tyler Prize for Environmental Achievement along with an American marine biologist Jane Lubchenco from Oregon State University.
Both recipients will share the $200,000 cash prize that is awarded every year for leadership in environment. Gadgil is the second Indian to receive the the Tyler Prize that was established by the late John and Alice Tyler in 1973 and is administered by the University of Southern California.
The first Indian to receive the award was Prof. Veerabhadran Ramanathan of the University of California, whose research has identified the Himalayas and the Indo Gangetic Plains Monsoon as two of the most vulnerable regions to climate change. He received the top US environment award in 2009.
For the second time, the 2015 award was given to Gadgil, a D. D. Kosambi Visiting Research Professor in Interdisciplinary Studies at Goa University, is known for his work in quantitative ecology and population biology, especially in preservation of ecology in the Western Ghats.
He has set up new methods for locals to monitor biodiversity through “People’s Biodiversity Registers” in conjunction with India’s Biological Diversity Act and helped reform resource management in India, leading to increased forest preservation in culturally significant locations such as Silent Valley National Park.
Born in Pune in 1942, he studied M.Sc. in Zoology from Bombay University and in 1965 moved to Harvard University, where he received a Ph.D. in Biology for his thesis in mathematical ecology, which quickly became a citation classic.
Next he received an IBM Fellowship at the Harvard Computing Center, and he stayed on at the university as a lecturer in biology. In 1971, Gadgil returned to India to support the applications of ecological research and began his work as a scientific officer for the Maharashtra Association for Cultivation of Science in Pune.
In 1973, he helped set up the Centre of Theoretical Studies at the Indian Institute of Science in Bangalore, where he was able to set up the Centre for Ecological Studies in 1983. He worked at the Indian Institute of Science for more than 30 years, taking on roles that range from Assistant Professor to Chairman.
He was also responsible for one of the first thorough censuses of India’s wild elephant populations, that has continued ever since and monitored through the work of the Indian Institute of Science.
Dr. Gadgil has chaired the Western Ghats Ecology Expert Panel, also known as “the Gadgil Commission” that has made recommendations for ecological balance with a sustainable development model in mind. He has also authored two books — “This Fissured Land: An Ecological History of India”, published in 1992, and “Ecology and Equity: Use and Abuse of Nature in Contemporary India”, published in 1995.
With six books, 227 scientific papers, and numerous manuals and advisory reports, he served on the Karnataka State Planning Board, the Scientific Advisory Council to the Prime Minister of India and India’s National Advisory Council. He was Vice President of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change and also served as the Chair of the Global Environmental Facility Scientific and Technical Advisory Panel for 4 years.
Recipient of the Padma Shri in 1981, the Padma Bhushan in 2006, he was honoured in 1983 by the Rajyotsaya Award from the State of Karnataka and the Rathindranath Tagore Award in 1985, as well as the Shanti Swarun Bhatnagar Award for Biological Sciences the following year.
Dr. Gadgil is described by his peers as a man both impressive and humble, and his nominating materials make it clear that his influence as an environmental leader has been very far-reaching. In his letter of support for the nomination, Dr. Marcus Feldman, Professor of Biology at Stanford University, said, “no one has done more to develop ecology and environmental studies in India than Madhav Gadgil.”
The award was given to Indian origin Professor Veerabhadran Ramanathan in 2009 for his original research in Climate and Atmospheric Science. He developed a new approach for mitigating global warming in the Himalayan glaciers.
CONGRATULATION TO SHRI Madhav Gadgil SIR
With best regards,
(2015)
Dr. AMAR NATH GIRI(2015)
M.Sc. -Environmental Science,Ph.D -Environmental Science law & DIPLOMA AS - P.G.D.E.P.L,CES, DCA,
EX IIM LUCKNOW FELLOW, EX RESEARCH SCIENTIST
IGIDR-MUMBAI
9912511918
amarnathgiri@nagarjunagroup.
http://www.nagarjunagroup.com
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http://dramarnathgiri.
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