Eminent Indian ecologist Madhav Gadgil from Goa University and renowned American marine ecologist Jane Lubchenco from Oregon State University, will be sharing this year’s Tyler Prize for Environmental Achievement. Lubchenco has shaped smart policies involving ocean sustainability and health along with the fishing communities in the US. Similarly, Gadgil has connected conservation and ecological policy-making with the indigenous communities in India.
Both of them have been successfully promoting ecology and biodiversity conservation as well as climate change mitigation within relevant social and economical contexts. The $200,000 cash award will be shared by Lubchenco and Gadgil and each will honored with a gold medal in April, this year. The Tyler Prize, which was first established in 1973, is awarded to world-class achievers in the field of environmental science, environmental health, energy and policy, and is conducted with the administrative support of the University of Southern California. Gadgil is the second Indian to receive this award after M. S. Swaminathan, the father of India’s Green Revolution.
Gadgil contributed significantly in drafting India’s National Biodiversity Act, 2002. He also notably chaired the Western Ghats Ecology Expert Panel, called Gadgil Committee to guide the protection and development of the Western Ghats, a UNESCO World Heritage site. Gadgil’s work is not only about highlighting environmental conservation policy-making with local engagement, but also dispensing the need for sound environmental science research nationally. The ecologist, a Padmashri and Padma Bhushan awardee, chaired the Science and Technology Advisory Panel of Global Environment Facility and was a member of the Science Advisory Council. He is a fellow/honorary member of a few Indian and international science bodies and has also received several national and international prizes for his contribution to ecological conservation.
Lubencho, a professor and adviser in Marine Studies at Oregon State University, has worked on issues such as protection of marine health, ecology and spreading awareness of ocean conservation and sustainability. The marine ecologist served as the administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. During that period she effectively blended ocean science with different regions and fishing communities and developed policies which balanced conservation with social and economic needs, her ‘catch share’ model being one prime example. Lubencho was also made the president of the American Association for the Advancement of Sciences, the International Council for Science and the Ecological Society of America.
The Tyler Prize Executive Committee and the international environmental community have arranged for a banquet and ceremony to be held in honor of Gadgil and Lubencho on April 24 next month.