Adventure & Wildlife Magazine - Vol 1|Issue 5-6| Nov 16 - Jan 17 Vol 2 | Issue 1 | Mar - May 2017 | Page 38

ADVENTURE & WILDLIFE
Indian Conservationists win Green Oscar
Adventure & Wildlife team congratulates The Whitley Award Winners - Sanjay Gubbi & Purnima Barman for
their outsanding contribution in their conservation efforts.
Two Indian activists on Wednesday won the Annual Whitley Awards, dubbed as the ‘Green Oscars’, for their works
in the field of animal and bird conservation in India.
Sanjay Gubbi of Karnataka and Purnima Barman of Assam were among six global winners of the award shortlisted
from 166 entries. Each of the winners receives 35,000 pounds (USD 45,374) prize money in project funding over
one year.
Sanjay Gubbi
Famed wildlife activist Sanjay Gubbi won the award for
his work to protect Karnataka’s tiger corridors. Gubbi
had quit his job as an electrical engineer to work with
nature and wildlife.
tigers in India and in 2015 the figure stood between 10
and 15. Our hope is to take it up to 100 over the next few
years but this can only be done through working with
the community,” he said.
With his award money, Sanjay Gubbi hopes to reduce
In 2012, working closely with the Karnataka deforestation
in
two
important
wildlife
government, he secured the largest expansion of sanctuaries which connect several protected areas
protected areas for the conservation of tigers in his state. and act as corridors for tigers, allowing them to move
between territories.
“Karnataka is home to the highest number of Bengal
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Vol 2|Issue 1|Mar - May 2017