Opinion Madhav Gadgil’s environmentalism put community at the centre
Gadgil launched new work on issues as varied as sacred groves in Maharashtra and Karnataka, the dry deciduous forests in Karnataka and Kerala, and the sustainable harvest of bamboo by basket weavers. This work was fundamental in the creation of the Nilgiri Biosphere in 1986 and in launching India’s first wild elephant census
Madhav Gadgil (1942-2026). Madhav Gadgil, India’s foremost ecologist, passed away on January 7 after a brief illness. He left behind a legacy of work that ranged from rigorous scientific research to engagement with conservation policy, and worked with grassroots movements across diverse ecological systems in India – from mining-affected communities to displaced grazers, and from forest protection communities to coastal fishermen’s collectives.
To the Indian public, Gadgil is perhaps best known for chairing the highly discussed Western Ghats Ecology Expert Panel — the Gadgil commission — whose 2011 report delineated large sections of the Western Ghats of India as an ecologically sensitive zone. The report, which attracted equal volumes of praise and controversy, was never implemented, but much of what Gadgil warned of has come to pass – the unchecked economic exploitation of hillsides, forests, wetlands and rivers has had devastating impacts on the ecology and communities of the people who live in these beautiful mountains. Well before this, he was that unusual scientist who sought to use his research to bring about real-life change.
Gadgil was born in Pune in 1942 to the economist Dhananjaya Gadgil and spent much of his childhood amidst nature, whether on his grandfather’s farm in Nagpur, or climbing the hills of Sinhagad. At an early age he was deeply inspired by the anthropologist Iravati Karve and the ornithologist Salim Ali, by whom he was informally mentored.
He was a keen sportsman and naturalist who had, as he often liked to declare, a “lifelong love affair” with the Western Ghats – but he was equally at home in all parts of the country. In 1971, after completing his PhD with EO Wilson at Harvard, Madhav Gadgil – joined by his wife, the leading climate scientist Sulochana Gadgil – returned to India, joining the Indian Institute of Science in Bangalore in 1973. There, they embarked on a long and illustrious career in science, raising their children Siddhartha and Gauri in the Institute’s green wooded campus. In 1983, he founded the Centre for Ecological Sciences, one of India’s leading centres for ecology.
At the Institute, Gadgil launched new work on issues as varied as sacred groves in Maharashtra and Karnataka, the dry deciduous forests in Karnataka and Kerala, and the sustainable harvest of bamboo by basket weavers. This work was fundamental in the creation of the Nilgiri Biosphere in 1986, and in launching India’s first wild elephant census. With the anthropologist K C Malhotra, he began a long collaboration that examined the historical shifts in resource use of the pastoral communities of the Western Ghats; and with the well-known historian and writer Ramachandra Guha, he wrote two now-classic books on India’s ecological history that have been used in hundreds of classrooms across the world – This Fissured Land, and Ecology and Equity: The Use and Abuse of Nature in Contemporary India. Gadgil developed guidelines for People’s Biodiversity Registers, and created the Western Ghats Biodiversity Network (when I joined him for my PhD) bringing together college teachers to document the rich biodiversity of the Western Ghats.
He was a keen mentor of ten PhD students, and inspired many scores of young ecologists and naturalists across the country. His work was recognised by numerous Indian and international awards including the Padma Shri, the Padma Bhushan, the Volvo Environment Prize, the Tyler Prize for Environmental Achievement, and very recently the UN Champions of the Earth award in 2024. His life and experiences, his contribution to scientific research, policy and practice are far too rich and varied to list. Perhaps the best way to understand his life and work is to read his autobiography, A Walk up the Hill: Living with People and Nature, published in 2023.
A few months back in July 2025, Gadgil lost his wife, collaborator and life partner of several decades, Sulochana Gadgil. Despite the severe loss, he continued to engage with work, focusing his energies on online talks and starting a new project to develop educational material in Marathi for vernacular students, using AI tools. Sadly he was unable to fulfil these projects.
In an especially evocative passage in his autobiography, Gadgil wrote “the purpose of scholarship is not merely to understand, but to deploy that understanding towards action.” In these difficult times, his message imbues us with hope for a different, better world.
The writer is Director, School of Climate Change and Sustainability, Azim Premji University
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