Assam: Kaziranga National Park Director honoured with IUCN award for innovation, conservation

Guwahati, Oct 11 (IANS) Senior IFS officer and Director of the Kaziranga National Park & Tiger Reserve (KNPTR) Sonali Ghosh got the IUCN’s (International Union for Conservation of Nature) awards for Innovation in National Parks and Protected Area Sustainability, officials said on Saturday.

An official of the KNPTR, India’s seventh UNESCO World Heritage Site, said that Ghosh received the Kenton R. Miller Award at the IUCN World Conservation Congress at Abu Dhabi on Friday.

The official said that the Kenton R. Miller Award, given for Innovation in National Parks and Protected Area sustainability, is a biennial award given by the IUCN WCPA.

Named after Dr. Kenton R. Miller, a distinguished leader in protected area management and former Director General of IUCN, it honours innovative contributions that significantly enhance the sustainability of national parks and protected areas globally.

The IUCN World Commission on Protected Areas (WCPA) is one of IUCN’s six technical commissions, consisting of thousands of volunteer experts worldwide.

It specialises in protected area governance, management, and policy, supporting the creation and effective management of protected areas globally, including national parks, reserves, and marine protected areas.

According to the official, this year the Dr. Kenton R. Miller award was conferred to two individuals in a gala event at the World Parks Congress currently ongoing at Abu Dhabi.

Besides Ghosh, Roque Simón Sevilla Larrea of Ecuador is the other recipient of the award. The congress is being attended by over 3000 delegates.

KNPTR Director Sonali Ghosh, India, recognised for her innovative approach to protected area governance, which critically acknowledges their colonial origins while affirming the vital rights and roles of indigenous communities, the official said.

He said that through her leadership, she has championed a model of conservation rooted in community engagement, awareness-building, and the seamless integration of traditional ecological knowledge with modern scientific expertise, an ethos that has been especially impactful in the highly biodiverse landscape of Manas and Kaziranga.

Meanwhile, on the occasion of Lok Kalyan Divas (People’s Welfare Day) in August, the Assam government has conferred the Karmashree Award on Sonali Ghosh, who also serves as the Additional Principal Chief Conservator of Forests. Ghosh had topped the Indian Forest Service (IFS) examination in the 2000 batch.

In addition to her postgraduate degree in Forest and Wildlife Sciences, she also holds a Postgraduate Diploma in Environmental Law and another diploma in System Management from the National Law School of India University.

She earned her doctorate in remote sensing technology, focusing on assessing the suitability of tiger habitats in the Indo-Bhutan Manas Landscape. Ghosh became the first woman Director of the 120-year-old Kaziranga National Park in August 2023.

--IANS

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