Champions of the Earth 2022: India’s Purnima Devi Barman honoured with UN’s highest environmental award

Champions of the earth 2022 UPSC: Assam’s leading conservationist Purnima Devi Barman has been awarded the United Nation's highest environmental honor, ‘Champions of the Earth’, for 2022.

As per the United Nations Environmental Program, Barman who is a wildlife biologist won the award along with four others from different countries for their transformative action to prevent, halt and reverse ecosystem degradation.

Champions of Earth Award is given in various categories and India’s Purnima Devi Barman received it in the Entrepreneurial Vision Category, for leading the ‘Hargila Army’.

Purnima Devi Barman while commenting on winning the award said that the honor is overwhelming and a dream come true. She dedicated the award to Mother Earth and all the mothers of the planet as the best education begin at home on the mother’s lap.

Just announced: the 2022 #EarthChamps winners:

🇱🇧 Conservationist
🇵🇪 Enterprise
🇬🇧 Economist
🇮🇳 Wildlife biologist
🇨🇲 Women’s rights activist

Find out about their impressive #GenerationRestoration achievements. @storksister @aecarcenciel https://t.co/C3sicWK8zY

— UN Environment Programme (@UNEP) November 22, 2022

Purnima Devi Barman’s work on environmental conservation

Purnima Devi Barman, a Green Oscar Winner, has strived for nearly two decades to ensure the survival of the Greatest Adjutant Stork by creating an all-woman grassroots conservationist group called the ‘Hargila (the Assamese name for the bird) Army’ to save the bird from extinction.

The women in the group create and sell textiles with motifs of the bird, helping to raise awareness about the species while also building their own financial independence.

The conservation focus of the project is on motherhood and the Hargila Army celebrates baby showers before the eggs are hatched and also after the chicks are born. Barman informed that all the activists are mothers and housewives who contribute to the conservation of the stork which almost became extinct.

Champions of the Earth 2022

Besides India’s Purnima Devi Barman, the other recipients of the UNEP award are:

1. Lebanon’s environmental enterprise Arceniel

2. Peru’s Constantino (Tino) Aucca Chuta for pioneering a community reforestation model driven by a local community

3. Sir Partha Dasgupta of the UK in the Science and Innovation Category

4. Cameroon’s Cecile Bibian Ndjebet for advocating the rights of women in Africa to secure land tenure.

UNEP’s Champions of the Earth

UNEP’s Champions of the Earth honors groups, individuals, and organisations whose actions have a transformative impact on the environment. The annual Champions of the Earth award recognizes outstanding leaders from government, civil society, and the private sector.

Champions of the Earth 2022 honours a conservationist, an enterprise, an economist, a women’s rights activist, and a wildlife biologist for their transformative action to prevent, halt and reverse ecosystem degradation.

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