Ecologist Madhav Gadgil Receives UN's Highest Environmental Honour
NDTV
Madhav Gadgil, the only Indian on the list of this year's award recipients, chaired the government-constituted Western Ghats Ecology Expert Panel
The United Nations on Tuesday recognised ecologist Madhav Gadgil with the annual Champions of the Earth award, the UN's highest environmental honour, for his seminal work in the Western Ghats, a global biodiversity hotspot.
Madhav Gadgil, the only Indian on the list of this year's award recipients, chaired the government-constituted Western Ghats Ecology Expert Panel to study the impact of population pressure, climate change, and development activities on the ecologically fragile region in India.
The panel recommended in 2011 that the entire hill range be declared an Ecologically Sensitive Area (ESA) and divided into three Ecologically Sensitive Zones (ESZ 1, 2, and 3) based on their environmental sensitivity.