Renowned ecologist Madhav Gadgil passed away late Wednesday night (January 7, 2026) at his home in Pune after a brief illness, his son Siddharth Gadgil informed The Hindu on Thursday (January 8, 2026). He was 82 years old.
His funeral will be held on Thursday at 4 pm at the Vaikunth crematorium in Pune.
He was known for his work on the ecological significance of the Western Ghats. In 2024, the United Nations honored him with the annual Champions of the Earth Award, the UN’s highest environmental honor, for his crucial work in the Western Ghats, a global biodiversity hotspot.
His report included several recommendations for strict restrictions in areas falling under the highly sensitive category. It recommended that no new roads or buildings be permitted, no development on steep slopes, and a ban on quarrying, among other things.
In an interview with The Hindu last year, he expressed concern over the disasters occurring in the Western Ghats and said that all the recommendations in the report were crucial to prevent such calamities.
He said, “We saw a model of development being imposed on people: mining operations and polluting industries were being imposed on communities without their consent. Similarly, conservation efforts were also being imposed from the top down by the Forest Department in an authoritarian manner, which often acted in a tyrannical and anti-people way.”
In a post on X (formerly Twitter), former Environment Minister and Congress leader Jairam Ramesh said that Madhav Gadgil was a brilliant academic scientist, a tireless field researcher, a pioneering institution-builder, a great communicator, a firm believer in people’s networks and movements, and a friend, philosopher, guide, and mentor to many for over five decades. The post stated, “Despite being trained at some of the finest universities of modern science, he was also a champion of traditional knowledge systems – especially in biodiversity conservation.”
Madhav Gadgil, the pre-eminent ecologist, has just passed away. He was a top-notch academic scientist, a tireless field researcher, a pioneering institution-builder, a great communicator, a firm believer in people’s networks and movements, and friend, philosopher, guide, and… pic.twitter.com/gJMOTdzuXw
— Jairam Ramesh (@Jairam_Ramesh) January 8, 2026
Mr. Ramesh said that Madhav Gadgil’s life was dedicated to scholarship in the noblest sense of the word, and he will remain an iconic and inspiring figure.