Gadgil, Lubchenco win Tyler prize

PANAJI: Ecologist Madhav Gadgil has been named for the 2015 Tyler prize for environmental achievement along with Jane Lubchenco, of Oregon State University.
The Tyler prize for environmental achievement executive committee announced the award recently.
Lubchenco and Gadgil
will share the $200,000 cash prize and receive a gold medallion each.
Gadgil, who is the D D Kosambi visiting research professor of interdisciplinary studies at Goa University, had also headed the Western Ghats’ ecology expert panel and made a series of recommendations for the conservation of the global biodiversity hotspot.The panel constituted by the Union ministry of environment and forests produced a landmark report on the region’s biodiversity and sparked off a national debate on conservation policies and the government’s subsequent move to dilute it. Gadgil had earlier helped in drafting India’s Biological Diversity Act.
“Lubchenco and Gadgil represent the very best in bringing high-quality science to policymaking to protect our environment and ensure the sustainability of natural resources in their respective countries and around the world,” said Tyler prize executive committee chair Owen T Lind.
GU sources said the award is a matter of prestige for the university, too.