Prof. Kamaljit Singh Bawa

Prof. Kamal Bawa is a Distinguished Professor of Biology at the University of Massachusetts Boston, and Founder-President of the Bangalore-based Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment (ATREE) which has been ranked among the world’s top 20 environment think tanks. He has published more than 200 scientific papers and 11 authored or edited books and monographs. Among the many awards he has received are: the Giorgio Ruffolo Fellowship at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government (2009), Charles Bullard (twice1972, 2010) and Maria Moor Cabot Fellowships (1973) at Harvard University, Guggenheim Fellowship (1987), Pew Scholar in Conservation and the Environment (1992), the world’s first prize in sustainability–the Gunnerus Award in Sustainability Science from the Royal Norwegian Society of Letters and Sciences (2012), and the international MIDORI Prize in Biodiversity (2014) from the Aeon Foundation in Japan at the United Nations Conference of Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity.

The two professional societies in his field, the Association for Tropical Biology and Conservation, and Society for Conservation Biology have bestowed on him their highest awards. The Association for Tropical Biology and Conservation elected him as its President and then as an Honorary Fellow; he has received the Distinguished Service Award from the Society for Conservation Biology. The University of Massachusetts, Boston has honoured him twice: he has received the Chancellor’s Award for distinction in scholarship as well as the Chancellor’s Award for distinction in professional service. In 2014, the University of Alberta honoured him by conferring an honorary Doctor of Science degree. He will receive another honorary doctorate from Concordia University, Montreal, in June 2019.  

Kamal Bawa is an elected member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (2012), the Royal Norwegian Society of Letters and Sciences (2012), the Royal Society of London (2015), and the American Philosophical Society  (2019). He has headed or served on a number of scientific panels, and he currently serves on the governing boards of several national and international organizations.  His second coffee-table book, Himalaya: Mountains of Life, a sequel to Sahyadris: India’s Western Ghats was published in January 2013.