Renowned Ecologist Madhav Gadgil Dies At 83

Noted ecologist Madhav Gadgil, known for his work on the Western Ghats, has passed away in Pune after a brief illness, family sources said on Thursday. He was 83.

Gadgil breathed his last late Wednesday night at a hospital in Pune, the sources said.

In 2024, the United Nations presented Gadgil with the annual Champions of the Earth award, the UN’s highest environmental honour, for his seminal work on the Western Ghats, a global biodiversity hotspot.

Gadgil had chaired the government-constituted Western Ghats Ecology Expert Panel to study the impact of population pressure, climate change, and development activities on the ecologically fragile region in India.