Madhav Gadgil and the Idea of People-Centric Conservation in India
The passing of ecologist Madhav Gadgil marks the end of an era in Indian environmental thought, particularly in the Western Ghats and the Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve. Gadgil’s most enduring contribution lay in redefining conservation not as exclusionary wilderness protection, but as a people-centric, democratic process rooted in local knowledge, livelihoods, and ecological prudence. Through institutions such as the Centre for Ecological Sciences and his role in conceptualising the Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve u
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