Dr. Purnima Devi Barman is UN Champions of the Earth Winner 2022 in the category of Entrepreneurial Vision. Champions of the Earth Award - an overview The Champions of the Earth award, the UN’s highest environmental honour, recognizes outstanding leaders from government, civil society and the private sector whose actions have a transformative impact on the environment. Every year, since 2005, United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) honours individuals and organizations working on innovative and sustainable solutions. Award categories Champions of the Earth are celebrated in four categories: Policy leadership - Individuals influencing or advancing global, regional or national action through policy interventions to improve environmental outcomes. They shape the dialogue, drive commitments, and act for the good of the planet. Inspiration and action - Leaders taking bold steps to inspire positive change to protect our world. They lead by example, challenge behavior and inspire millions. Entrepreneurial vision - Visionaries challenging the status quo to build a cleaner future. They build systems, create new technology and spearhead a groundbreaking vision. Science and innovation -Trailblazers pushing the boundaries of technology for profound environmental benefit. They invent possibilities for a more sustainable world. Indian winner 2022 - Dr. Purnima Devi Barman Award Category: Entrepreneurial Vision Dr. Purnima Devi Barman, 2022 Champion of the Earth for Entrepreneurial Vision, was only a child when she developed an affinity for the stork, a bird that was to become her life’s passion. Fewer than 1,200 mature greater adjutant storks exist as of 2022, less than 1 per cent of what they numbered a century ago. The dramatic decline in their population has been partly driven by the destruction of their natural habitat. Wetlands where the storks thrive have been drained, polluted and degraded, replaced by buildings, roads and mobile phone towers as the urbanization of rural areas gathers pace. Wetlandsnurture a great diversity of animal and plant life but around the world they are disappearing three times faster than forests due to human activities and global heating. To protect the stork, Barman knew she had to change perceptions of the bird, known locally as “hargila” in Assamese (meaning “bone swallower”) and mobilized a group of village women to help her. In 2022, the “Hargila Army” consists of over 10,000 women. They protect nesting sites, rehabilitate injured storks which have fallen from their nests and arrange “baby showers” to celebrate the arrival of newborn chicks. The greater adjutant stork regularly features in folk songs, poems, festivals and plays. Barman has also helped to provide the women with weaving looms and yarn so they can create and sell textiles decorated with motifs of the hargila. This entrepreneurship not only spreads awareness of the bird, it also contributes to the women’s financial independence, boosting their livelihoods and instilling pride and a sense of ownership in their work to save the stork. Since Barman started her conservation programme, the number of nests in the villages of Dadara, Pachariya, and Singimari in Kamrup District have risen from 28 to more than 250, making this the largest breeding colony of greater adjutant storks in the world. In 2017, Barman began building tall bamboo nesting platforms for the endangered birds to hatch their eggs. Her efforts were rewarded a couple of years later when the first greater adjutant stork chicks were hatched on these experimental platforms. For Barman, safeguarding the adjutant stork means protecting and restoring their habitats. The Hargila Army has helped communities to plant 45,000 saplings near stork nesting trees and wetland areas in the hope they will support future stork populations Source : UNEP