Ecologist Madhav Gadgil Receives UN's Highest Environmental Honour

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.

It also recommended a ban on mining, quarrying, new thermal power plants, hydropower projects, and large-scale wind energy projects in ESZ 1. However, these recommendations faced opposition from state governments, industries, and local communities.

In an interview with PTI, Mr Gadgil said he was happy that he stood up for what's right.

"There are not many who would write the kind of very honest reports, including official reports like the Western Ghats Ecology Expert Panel, which provide very concrete facts and bring out a clear picture. It is available for people to look at, understand the issues, and engage in at least some good, honest discussion," the 82-year-old nature scientist said.

"I can certainly feel happy for standing up and writing such a report, which nobody ever writes," he said.

He said even when he was writing the report, many people advised him to refrain from being "so honest", as it would have made the ruling classes unhappy.

"I said, 'Look, I am a citizen of India, and I have been asked to write this Western Ghats Ecology Expert Panel report as a citizen of India, and I will make recommendations which are completely in line with our Constitution and with the facts on the ground,'" Mr Gadgil recalled.

He said the gap between the haves and have-nots in accessing information is narrowing, and a lot of people are now readily able to access what he has written.

"Even if the government did not agree and translate it into all the Indian languages, now the facilities on the internet are available with very good translations. People are accessing it, and there is an awareness, and I can see signs of that," he said.

Mr Gadgil said eventually, it will be people's awareness and their ability to get organised and resist this environmental degradation that will begin to turn the tide.

"I believe I have played a decent role in bringing all this about," he said.

UNESCO declared the Western Ghats a World Heritage Site in July 2012 and in 2013, the Centre formed a High-Level Working Group led by rocket scientist K Kasturirangan to propose measures for the ecological protection and sustainable development of the region.

This group identified 37 per cent of the Western Ghats, covering 59,940 square km, as ecologically sensitive. Since March 2014, the Union environment ministry has issued five draft notifications, including one in July 2024, to declare the Western Ghats as ecologically sensitive, but the final notification is still pending due to objections from the states.

An expert panel, established in April 2022 under former Director General of Forests Sanjay Kumar, is now working closely with the states to resolve the issue.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)