AN INDIAN wildlife biologist has been honoured with a top UK wildlife charity award for her work in conserving the endangered Greater Adjutant Stork and its wetland habitat.
Dr Purnima Devi Barman won the GBP 100,000 Whitley Gold Award from the Whitley Fund for Nature (WFN), which supports grassroots conservation leaders from around the world, at a Royal Geographical Society awards ceremony in London on Wednesday.
“Their feathers, their intense blue eyes, the sounds of their beaks were my childhood friends,” said Dr Barman, who previously won the Whitley Award in 2017. “I love everything about them, they are very inspiring. But everyone else seemed to hate them.”
The Gold Award from WFN highlighted how the Hargila population had dropped to around 450 birds in Northeast India before Barman’s intervention.
“Her project aims to grow community-driven conservation initiatives to bolster the number of Greater Adjutant breeding pairs, expanding support of local women to grow the ‘Hargila Army’ of ‘Stork sister’ advocates,” said the WFN.
Barman aims to double the global population of the bird to 5,000 by 2030, working across its range in India and Cambodia through various scale-up measures.
She also plans to provide conservation education to thousands of students in Assam and facilitate knowledge exchange programmes between universities.
The Whitley Awards also recognised six other grassroots conservationists from around the world for their efforts in addressing biodiversity and climate crises.
“When children accompany their mothers in the Hargila Army, it imbues our mission with deeper meaning,” Barman said.
Each winner receives £50,000 in project funding over one year, as well as access to a network of over 200 Whitley Award alumni for support and expertise.
(PTI)
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