Balipara Foundation -- an Assam-based organization in India, recognized seven Bangladeshis for their outstanding contributions to conservation by awarding them Balipara Foundation Award.
Independent University, Bangladesh (IUB) hosted the Balipara Foundation Awards 2022 at the university auditorium on Sunday, said a press release.
The annual awards, introduced in 2013 by the Balipara Foundation recognize and honor extraordinary visionaries from the Eastern Himalayas and their contribution towards developing sustainable innovative methods to live in harmony with nature.
This year, the Center for Bay of Bengal Studies (CBoBS) of IUB is partnering with the foundation for the awards and the 10th Eastern Himalayan Naturenomics Forum 2022, to be held from Sunday to Tuesday at IUB.
A total of 50 organizations and individuals from Bangladesh are being recognized in the Balipara Foundation Awards 2022 for their outstanding contribution towards preserving the harmony between human beings and the natural environment.
The winners from Bangladesh are Dr M Monirul H Khan, Golam Mainuddin, Syeda Rizwana Hasan, Mahfuz Ahmed Russel, Delowar Jahan, Hawladar Azad Kabir and Professor Dr Niaz Ahmed Khan.
The other winners include Sir Partha Dasgupta, author of the landmark Economics of Biodiversity report for the UK treasury; and Dr Kamaljit Singh Bawa, President and founder of the environmental think tank Ashoka Trust Research in Environment and Ecology.
Ranjit Barthakur, founder of the Balipara Foundation, said: "It's a 360-degree human life situation right now. There has to be a shift in mindsets and attitudes. We need to move with a mindset that puts ecology at the forefront. Everything has to be biodiverse."
Lord Nicholas Stern, chairman, Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment of the London School of Economics (LSE), said: "The Eastern Himalayas is centre-stage in its influence on more than a billion people in the region and in integrating the story of biodiversity and climate in development."
Ambassador Shyam Saran, former foreign secretary and prime minister's special envoy for nuclear affairs and climate change of India, said: "Today, we are at a point where climate change, biodiversity, and finance cannot be put in a single box; they have become more and more interconnected. In terms of the International negotiations, we need to look at the interconnectedness."
TV Narendran, managing director, Tata Steel, India, said: “We are all fresh from COP26. One of the major achievements is that around 120 countries have signed up that they would either reverse deforestation or not cut out any forest by 2030."
The Balipara Foundation Awards are given in eight categories, which are Rural Futures Rewilding Award, Food For The Future Award, Forests Guards & Rangers Award, Lifetime Service Award, Naturenomics Award, Green Legal/Journalist Award, Green Guru Award, and Young Naturalist Award.
The first four are accorded to individuals, communities, governmental and nongovernmental organizations for outstanding contributions to preserving, restoring and sustainably managing forests and raising awareness about the role forests play in supporting local communities, rural livelihoods, women, youth and the environment.
The last four are given to green entrepreneurs for their conservation models leading to growth in community knowledge, decision-making ability, and increase in economic mobility of local economies, reads the press release.
Launched in 2007, Balipara Foundation is a nonprofit organization committed to reconciling community and biodiversity needs through its proprietary concept of Naturenomics.
Through its Rural Futures vision for habitat-mediated livelihoods for communities, the Balipara Foundation works towards restoring habitats across the Eastern Himalayan region. Though based out of the Indian state of Assam, the Balipara Foundation works across the region and is dedicated to facilitating transboundary action across the Eastern Himalaya.
