Dr. Ankur Patwardhan
Hon. Secretary & Research Coordinator, RANWA (Research & Action in Natural Wealth Administration), Pune, India.
Ankur Patwardhan is a field ecologist (Assoc. Professor of Biodiversity) and holds a doctorate in Environmental Sciences from University of Pune, India. He is the first Indian to win the ‘Green & Sustainable Chemistry Challenge Award’, for his innovative idea about developing butterfly attractants for pollination and ecosystem health. He is also a recipient of ‘Nature Care Award’.
His main activities focus on recovery, including ex-situ and bio-prospecting of threatened plant taxa from Western Ghats of India, one of the 36 global biodiversity hot spots. Assessment of ecosystem services, understanding impact of climate change on phenological changes in plants, plant-insect interaction are other key areas he is working in.
He coordinated the Indian Urban Resource Millennium Assessment by Naturalists under the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MA) Initiative.
In the honorary capacities, he is associated with various State Level and National Level bodies working in the field of Environment. He also guides research activities at ‘RANWA’, an Environmental NGO in Pune, India. URL : https://ankurpatwardhan.in