Assam woman gets Green Oscar for protecting stork
GUWAHATI: A woman from Assam has received the coveted Whitley Award, also known as the Green Oscar, for her efforts towards protecting the greater adjutant stork (leptoptilos dubius) and the wetlands it inhabits.
Princess Anne presented the award, worth £35,000 in project funding, to 37-year-old Purnima Barman at London’s Royal Geographical Society on Thursday evening. A statement issued by Whitley Fund for Nature on Wednesday said Barman was selected for the prestigious award from a list of 166 researchers across 66 countries.
Another Indian – Sanjay Gubbi – also figured among the six picked for the honour. He received the award for his efforts at curbing deforestation in Karnataka’s tiger corridors.
Incidentally, hargila – as the greater adjutant is called in Assam – is also used to refer to lanky people in local parlance. It currently holds the unenviable ‘endangered’ status in the IUCN red list of threatened species.
“Purnima mobilised the Hargila Army, an all-female team of conservationists dedicated to protecting the greater adjutant stork. They are offered sustainable livelihood, training and education opportunities through this programme. The project is giving marginalised women a voice, helping them change local perceptions. The number of stork nests has risen to over 150 from just 30 seven years ago,” the Whitley statement said.
Barman will use the award to scale up her work. “She will conduct research on the impact of pollution and garbage consumption on the stork’s reproduction, and undertake work to secure protection of its wetland habitat – home to the largest nesting colony of greater adjutants,” it said.
Barman, a member of Assambased NGO Aaranyak, faced several challenges when she launched her campaign in 2008. Today, the people of Dadara, Pachariya and Hingimari take pride in preserving the hargila as well as its nesting trees – which they once wanted to chop off to get rid of the “irritating birds”.
“I dedicate the Whitley Award, the dream of every conservationist, to the villagers who have been working with me to make the world a better place for the greater adjutant. A 19th century ornithologist called the bird a prodigy of ugliness, but few are as beautiful as it is,” Purnima said.