Prominent Environmentalist Madhav Gadgil Passes Away At 83: A Legacy of Ecological Wisdom

Pune: Professor Madhav Dhananjaya Gadgil, the prominent ecologist whose visionary thoughts on protecting the Western Ghats, passed away late Wednesday night at his residence in Pune after a brief illness. He was 83.

Madhav Gadgil was a brilliant scholar who believed that science should focus on helping ordinary people. His death is a huge loss for India’s environmental movement. 

The Architect of Modern Indian Ecology

Born in 1942, Gadgil’s journey began in the hills of Pune, influenced by his father, economist Dhananjay Gadgil, and the legendary ornithologist Salim Ali. 

After obtaining a PhD from Harvard University, he returned to India in 1971, determined to apply scientific methodology to the country’s ecological challenges.

In 1983, he founded the Centre for Ecological Sciences (CES) at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bengaluru. Under his leadership, the centre focused on how humans and nature can live together, rather than treating people as a problem for the environment.

The ‘Gadgil Report’ and the Western Ghats

Gadgil’s most enduring, and perhaps most controversial, legacy is his work as the Chairman of the Western Ghats Ecology Expert Panel (WGEEP). 

Submitted in 2011, the "Gadgil Report" was a landmark document that designated the entire Western Ghats, a global biodiversity hotspot, as ecologically sensitive.

He recommended a complete ban on mining, large dams, and polluting industries in the region’s most fragile zones. Although many politicians disagreed with his ideas, the government eventually chose a weaker plan instead. 

However, Gadgil never changed his mind. Recently, after the Western Ghats suffered from terrible floods and landslides, many experts and judges said his warnings were right all along.

Gadgil believed that conservation could not succeed through bureaucracy. He was a key architect of the Biological Diversity Act (2002) and pioneered the People’s Biodiversity Registers, empowering gram panchayats (village councils) to document and protect their local natural resources.

Honours and Recognition:

• Padma Shri (1981) and Padma Bhushan (2006)
• Tyler Prize for Environmental Achievement (2015)
• UN Champions of the Earth (Lifetime Achievement, 2024)

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