BOSTON (TIP): The Balipara Foundation has honored noted, Indian born, conservation biologist Dr Kamaljit Singh Bawa, with the Global Lifetime Service Award. A Distinguished Professor of Biology at the University of Massachusetts, Boston, Bawa is the founder president of the Bengaluru, India-based Ashoka Trust for Research and Ecology and Environment (ATREE).

The award recognizes Dr Bawa’s work in setting up ATREE’s Eastern Himalaya Program and his contribution to conserving the critical and biodiversity-rich landscape. It was presented at the tenth Eastern Himalayan Naturenomics Forum in Bangladesh on Nov 11, 2022, according to an ATREE press release. Dr Bawa is renowned for his pioneering work on tropical forest trees, extending his field of research from population biology to sustainable use of forest resources, conserving large tropical landscapes and climate change.

His research on climate change in the Eastern Himalayas is focused on modelling climate change, the impact of climate change and biodiversity and agriculture and the development of adaptive strategies that assign a central role to local knowledge. Research on the sustainable use of ecosystem services constitutes an important element of the overall global change program.

Dr Bawa founded ATREE in 1996. He is an elected fellow of the US National Academy of Sciences and the Royal Society of London. He is also on the Executive Committee of the National Geographic Society. Dr Bawa is the editor-in-chief of the journal Conservation and Society and has over 200 publications.

Since 2013, the Balipara Foundation, headquartered in Assam, has highlighted and invested in the efforts of societal entrepreneurs working tirelessly to create social, economic, and environmental impacts in protecting essential natural resources and restoring the diversity of the Eastern Himalayas. The Balipara Foundation Award recognizes extraordinary visionaries of the Eastern Himalayas and their indomitable contribution. The Awardees continue to live in harmony with nature and adopt sustainable methods for greening the economy.

These Grassroots Leaders empower, engage, sensitize their communities towards environmental protection and create opportunities for rural livelihoods. Adopting new technologies and inventions with indigenous knowledge, they are the Custodian Experts of their region’s biodiversity, according to the release.

The awardees receive a Social Impact Recognition Award, including a Citation and a contribution to the organization or individual from the Social Impact Recognition Fund of Balipara Foundation.