Madhav Gadgil, Nature
Vindicated Ecologist & Scientist, Passed Away, aged 83.
The passing of Prof.
Madhav Dhananjaya Gadgil, on 7 January 2026 – brings to a close an illustrious chapter
in Indian ecological science. His passing was announced by his son, Siddhartha
Gadgil, who in a brief statement said; "I am very sorry to share the sad
news that my father, Madhav Gadgil, passed away late last night (7 January) in
Pune after a brief illness,"
Even as tributes from
across the globe continue to flow in, on the passing of Prof Gadgil, in a grim
irony, the Western Ghats — the very
landscape to which Prof Gadgil devoted a lifetime — continue to witness the
cost of ignoring science based findings and warnings, which Prof Madhav Gadgil,
who had spent most part of his scientific life in studying the ecology of the Western
Ghats, had predicted and suggested what we need to do to avoid natural disasters.
In August 2018 and July
2024, we witnessed an unprecedented flood in Kerala as a result of landslides
and an ecological collapse, particularly in the Western Ghats area, which took
away large number of lives and livelihoods. These disasters were not
unforeseeable disasters. They were, as Gadgil repeatedly warned, man-made
tragedies. Prof. Gadgil was not merely an ecologist who studied forests,
species and landscapes, he was among the first Indian scientists to rigorously
demonstrate that ecological fragility, governance failure and developmental
excess are inseparably linked. His work on the Western Ghats stands today as
one of the most comprehensive scientific assessments ever undertaken for a
major mountain system in the tropics.
Prof Gadgil played a pivotal
role in many of the policy related matters pertaining to ecology. His profound influence
on public policy goes back to his crucial role in the Save Silent Valley
Movement in the late 70s and early 1980s. Prof Gadgil was among those who gave shape
to a new direction to the Botanical Survey of India and the Zoological Survey
of India.
Among his many
contributions to the safeguarding of ecology in India, his decades of scientific
work at the western ghats have received global recognition. Designated a global biodiversity hotspot, the
Western Ghats of India harbour extraordinary endism, and the ghats regulate
peninsular India’s monsoon systems, and sustain millions through water,
agriculture and ecosystem services. Gadgil understood that this was not merely
a wilderness issue but a civilisational one.
Born on 24 May 1942 into
a family dedicated to scholarship — his father, D. R. Gadgil, was a noted
economist — Madhav Gadgil charted a unique path in ecological science that
blended rigorous research, deep field observation, and a penetrating
understanding of how environments and societies interact. He pursued scientific
training at globally respected institutions and quickly emerged as a leading
voice in ecology.
He studied biology at
Harvard under E. O. Wilson, “who had been hailed as Darwin’s Heir”. Although
inspired by Wilson, Madhav Gadgil - unlike most others who went to study abroad
- came back to India to build its own research capacities and capabilities,
guide students, engage with local communities, and make a difference to policy.
Fortunately, Prof Gadgil was able to publish a memoir “A Walk Up the Hill”, which
is said to chronicle his life and works and is truly educative, entertaining,
and enlightening.
Gadgil’s scientific
career spanned over five decades, during which he transformed ecology from an
academic discipline into a framework for national policy and conservation
practice. His work emphasized that humans are integral to ecosystems,
challenging conservation paradigms that treated people as separate from or
destructive to nature.
One of Gadgil’s most
enduring legacies is the Centre for Ecological Sciences (CES) at the Indian
Institute of Science (IISc), Bengaluru, which he founded in 1983. Under his
leadership, CES became one of India’s foremost research hubs for ecology,
conservation biology, environmental policy and biodiversity science, training
generations of scientists and influencing ecological research nationwide.
Through CES, Gadgil helped shape ecological curricula, research priorities and scientific discourse in India. His work spanned topics from animal behaviour and landscape ecology to human-environment interactions and biodiversity documentation. Among his major contribution include the Western Ghats Ecology Expert Panel (WGEEP) a committee, which he chaired
As Chairman of the
Western Ghats Ecology Expert Panel (WGEEP), constituted by the Ministry of
Environment and Forests, Government of India, Prof Gadgil led a
multidisciplinary team that produced the 2011 report, grounded in: high-resolution
ecological sensitivity mapping, long-term rainfall and hydrological data, land-use
change analysis, biodiversity assessments, and extensive consultations with
local communities. The report, which later came to be known as the Madhav
Gadgil report, classified the Western Ghats into Ecologically Sensitive Zones
(ESZ-I, II and III), recommending graded regulation, not blanket prohibition.
Prof Gadgil, in his
preface to the report, says “the report embodies among other things (i)
categorisation of the Western Ghats into three zones of varied ecological
sensitivity, based upon careful analysis done by WGEEP, (ii) broad sectoral
guidelines for each of these zones, and (iii) a broad framework for
establishment of the Western Ghats Ecology Authority”.
Crucially, the report called
for prohibition of mining, quarrying and sand extraction in the most fragile
zones. It recommended strict regulation of large dams and linear infrastructure,
decentralised decision-making through gram sabhas, respect for traditional
ecological knowledge, and transparent environmental governance among other recommendations.
His report evidenced what was precautionary science, not ideological
environmentalism, yet it did not get the due respect and recognition that such
reports mandate and therefore it was ignored or overlooked.
Gadgil report was
submitted to the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests in 2011. The report recommended
that the Government must stop all existing mines in Zone 1 by 2016 and it must
also stop illegal mining activities immediately. Unfortunately, no action was
taken on the report since the recommendations in the report were considered as
a bitter pill, which no Government would wish to swallow, particularly because
the implementation of the report would hurt the powerful mining lobby of South
West India with deep pockets and high-level political connections. The report
therefore was gathering dust and the ministry also did not release this report
to the media for public discussion.
An RTI activist from Kerala learnt of this
report and sought for the report from the union Ministry under the RTI. The
government did not furnish the information citing security concerns.
Undeterred, the applicant agitated the matter right up to the CIC and finally
the CIC ordered the government to make the report public, which the Ministry
earnestly followed.
The Gadgil committee
report sparked much controversy in Kerala especially as the opposition CPI-M
accused the report of being too environment centric. This resulted in no action
by the Government. The Supreme Court intervened in the matter and directed the
government to act on the report. The result was formation of another committee,
the Kasturirangan committee, which was set up to review the Gadgil committee
report and suggest changes so that the states can implement the recommendations
of the Gadgil report, keeping in mind the welfare of the inhabitants as well.
Kasturirangan led-High
Level Working Report (HLWG) submitted their report with some modifications to
the recommendations of Prof Gadgil report. The Ecologists say the HLWG is a
dilution of Gadgil report and, therefore, unacceptable. There were agitations
and protests even against the Kasturirangan report by quarry owners and farmers
specially in the Idukki and Wayanad districts, the very districts that were the
worst affected in the 2018 and 2024 flooding in Kerala. Political leaders and
mining companies too joined hands to fight against the report resulting in
hardly any sizable action on either of the reports.
Prof. Gadgil was deeply
hurt that his report was not considered/accepted— not for personal reasons, but
because he saw what lay ahead. In multiple public lectures, essays and
interviews, he warned that unchecked quarrying, deforestation, hill cutting,
river encroachment and unregulated construction in the Ghats would destabilise
slopes, alter drainage patterns and amplify extreme rainfall impacts. He
specifically cautioned that Kerala, with its steep slopes, lateritic soils and
dense human habitation, was particularly vulnerable.
From the catastrophic
floods of August 2018, to the one that occurred in July 2024 in Kerala, the
region has witnessed repeated landslides. Intense rainfall alone does not
explain these events. Comparable rainfall occurred in earlier decades without
such scale of destruction. What has changed was land use: Quarrying on unstable
slopes, roads and buildings cutting across natural drainage lines, deforestation
and conversion of mixed forests into monoculture plantations, river floodplains
encroached upon in the name of development.
Gadgil on his reaction to
loss of lives in the 2024 floods, stated with painful clarity that these deaths
were avoidable. They were not “natural calamities” but ecological failures of
governance. Each landslide, each washed-away village, was — in effect — a
footnote to an ignored scientific report.
What distinguished Madhav
Gadgil was not just his ecological insight, but moral courage. He insisted that
conservation cannot be imposed from above. He said development without
ecological literacy is self-destructive. He therefore suggested that communities
must be partners, not victims, of environmental policy His insistence on
People’s Biodiversity Registers, decentralised governance, and locally informed
decision-making anticipated today’s global discourse on sustainability, climate
resilience and nature-based solutions.
Long before climate
change became mainstream policy language, Gadgil understood that ecological
resilience is the first line of defence against climate extremes. The Western
Ghats report was, in essence, a climate adaptation blueprint — ignored at
immense human cost.
History is often unkind
to those who speak inconvenient truths. Prof. Gadgil lived to see his warnings
repeatedly validated — a vindication that brought no satisfaction, only sorrow.
He once remarked that the tragedy was not that his report was rejected, but
that its rejection would be paid for by the poorest and most vulnerable.
Madhav Gadgil’s legacy is
not confined to the institutions he built, papers he published, or awards he
received. It lies in a question he leaves behind for policymakers and society
alike. In his passing we must remind ourselves of his contributions to the
Indian ecology and rededicate to serving the cause which he so painstakingly
and with great passion pursued all his life, safeguarding the ecology and
biodiversity.
Honors, Awards, and Global Impact
Madhav Gadgil’s contributions earned him some of the highest accolades in science and society:
National Honors
- Padma Shri (1981)
- Padma Bhushan (2006)
International Recognition
- Volvo Environment Prize
- Tyler Prize for Environmental Achievement
- Champions of the Earth — the United Nations Environment Programme’s highest environmental award, received in 2024 in recognition of his lifetime impact on conservation and sustainability.
He was also elected a Fellow of India’s three premier science academies — the Indian National Science Academy (INSA), the Indian Academy of Sciences (IAS), and the National Academy of Sciences, India (NASI) — and held honorary memberships in several international scientific societies.
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