Shri Madhav Gadgil is UN Champions of the Earth Winner 2024 in the Lifetime Achievement category. 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 2024 - Shri Madhav Gadgil Award Category: Lifetime Achievement Indian ecologist Madhav Gadgil learned from a young age the importance of respecting the rights of the least fortunate. In a scientific career that has spanned six decades – taking him from the halls of Harvard University to the upper echelons of India’s government – Gadgil has always considered himself a “people’s scientist”. His research has helped to protect marginalized people, promote the community-driven conservation of ecosystems, from forests to wetlands, and influence policymaking at the highest level. Of the seven books and at least 225 scientific papers he has written, Gadgil’s landmark work, dubbed the Gadgil Report, called for the protection of India’s ecologically fragile Western Ghats mountain range in the face of growing threats from industry and the climate crisis. Throughout his decades-long tenure at the Indian Institute of Science, where he founded the Centre for Ecological Sciences, Gadgil has worked closely with forest dwellers, farmers and fishing communities, not to mention activists and policymakers. One of his biggest achievements through the centre was the establishment of India’s first biosphere reserve in 1986. Gadgil carried out ecological reconnaissance in three states in the Western Ghats and recalls how he spoke and trekked with, and even lived among the forest communities in sacred groves. The Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve is now the largest protected area in India, and Gadgil’s championing of community-led conservation efforts and resource management has proved vital in preserving land and biodiversity in a region where habitat degradation and forest fragmentation have long been rife. As a member of several government agencies and committees, including the Prime Minister's Scientific Advisory Council, Gadgil was one of the architects of India’s Biological Diversity Act and was involved in the implementation of the Forest Rights Act. Gadgil’s wide-ranging contributions throughout the years have earned him some of India’s highest civilian honours – including the Padma Shri and Padma Bhushan awards – as well as the Tyler Prize for Environmental Achievement and the Volvo Environment Prize. Source : UNEP