Ananda Kumar, Pramod Patil Won Whitley Awards for Wildlife Conservation

Dr. Ananda Kumar and Dr. Pramod Patil of India won the prestigious Whitley Awards (also known as Green Oscar) for their contribution to wildlife conservation in Royal Geographical Society, London and it award given by the Whitley Fund for Nature (WFN) .

Dr. Ananda Kumar was honoured for his contribution of work using innovative communication systems to enable human-elephant co-existence in Southern India and he received a Whitley prize worth 35000 pound.

Work of Dr. Ananda Kumar aims to minimise negative human-elephant interactions and increase people՚s tolerance towards elephants, Kumar developed an Elephant Information Network (EIN) . This network acts as an early warning mechanism to alert people when elephants are nearby.

Dr. Pramod Patil was honoured for his work to protect the iconic great Indian bustard in the Thar Desert, Rajasthan.

Work of Dr. Pramod Patil- Patil is a doctor by profession. He made a decision to leave medicine as a profession and devote his life to conservation of the great Indian bustard (Ardeotis nigriceps) in 2003, the population of which is declining at a high speed due to poaching, loss of grassland habitat and lack of community involvement.

Other winners of the 2015 Whitley Award (Green Oscar) are-

  1. Panut Hadisiswoyo- he honoured for his efforts to protect Sumatran orangutans in Indonesia՚s Leuser Ecosystem
  2. Rosamira Guillen-he honoured for cotton-top tamarin conservation in northern Colombia
  3. Arnaud Desbiez- he honoured for giant armadillo protection in the Brazilian Cerrado
  4. Inaoyom Imong- Honoured for protecting Cross River gorillas in Nigeria՚s Mbe Mountains
  5. Jayson Ibanez- he honoured for helping protect the Philippine eagle on Mindanao Island

Examrace Team at Aug 20, 2021