Overview
- His son, mathematician Siddhartha Gadgil, confirmed he died on January 7 in Pune after a brief illness.
- He chaired the Western Ghats Ecology Expert Panel, whose 2011 report urged declaring about 75% of the range ecologically sensitive, a proposal later reduced by a Kasturirangan-led panel and still not fully notified.
- He founded the Centre for Ecological Sciences at the Indian Institute of Science, authored or co-authored more than 225 papers and several books, and advanced community-led conservation through People’s Biodiversity Registers.
- He helped shape India’s Biological Diversity Act of 2002 and advised multiple national and international bodies on environment policy.
- Honours included UNEP’s 2024 Champions of the Earth recognition, the Padma Shri and Padma Bhushan, the Tyler Prize, and the Volvo Environment Prize, as colleagues and leaders hailed his mentorship and institution-building legacy.