Source: www.ndtv.com
LONDON, ENGLAND, March 14, 2003: Founder and Director of the Bangalore-based Asian Elephant Research and Conservation Center, Professor Raman Sukumar, has won the Whitley Golden Award, the most prestigious international award in the field of environment conservation, for his work in saving endangered Asian elephants. Sukumar received the award popularly known as the “Green Oscar” along with a cash prize of US$79,000 from Princess Anne at the Royal Geographical Society. This is the fourth year in succession that an Indian has won the award. Last year, a Pune scientist, Dr. Anand Karve won the award for developing a technique to produce clean fuel from sugarcane waste. In 2001, Vivek Menon, chief of the Wildlife Trust of India, was chosen for the award for his fight against poaching of elephants and in 2000, Gargi Banerji, a botanist, won the Golden Award for work in conserving medicinal plants in Himachal Pradesh. Sukumar said he planned to spend the cash prize to provide support to local farmers to mitigate the impact of elephants on their lands, as well as to help his field research team which acts as a “watchdog” — identifying threats such as poaching for ivory and monitoring the health of the elephant population.