Awards and Honour

Awards and Honour

Champions of the Earth Award 2022

The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) has announced the 2022 Champions of the Earth Award, honouring five environmental protectors —a conservationist, an enterprise, an economist, a women’s rights activist, and a wildlife biologist—for their transformative efforts to prevent, halt, or reverse ecosystem degradation.
The UNEP Champions of the Earth 2022 awards highlight global efforts to protect the environment in the backdrop of the United Nations (UN) Decade on Ecosystem Restoration (2021-2030).
Dr Purnima Devi Barman has been honoured with the U.N. Environment Programme’s 2022 Champions of the Earth award in the Entrepreneurial Vision category.

About Purnima Barman

Dr. Barman is an Indian wildlife biologist.
She leads the “Hargila Army”, an all-female grassroots conservation movement dedicated to protecting the Greater Adjutant Stork (Hargila) from extinction.
The women create and sell textiles with motifs of the bird, helping to raise awareness about the species while building their own financial independence.

About Hargila – The Greater Adjutant Stork

Hargilas are five-foot-tall birds that live in wetlands in parts of Southeast Asia, including India and Cambodia. In India, they can be found in Assam and Bihar in India.
According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List, there are only about 1,200 Hargilas left in the world, categorizing the species as “endangered.”

About UNEP Champions of the Earth

The award was first established in 2005.
It is the highest environmental honour bestowed by the United Nations (UN).
It recognizes individuals and organizations whose actions have a positive impact on the environment.
The Champions of the Earth are acknowledged in four categories: Policy Leadership, Inspiration and Action, Entrepreneurial Vision, & Science and Innovation.

About the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)