(excerpt from Wikipedia) In the year 2000, the Sanctuary Wildlife Awards were instituted to honour men and women working to protect our wilderness areas and photographers who used their skills as a conservation tool
- Award citation
- Award ceremony video (entire event 1:38 hr)
- Award ceremony video (abridged version)
- size 56 MB, duration 7:15 min
- Preamble (min 0:00 to 3:15)
- Athreya receiving the award (min 3:16 to 7:15)
- Sanctuary Nature Foundation page
- Sanctuary magazine article (Dec 2022)
- Twitter page
You are a vital bridge between academia and field work in Arunachal Pradesh. One of your most important contributions to our knowledge of avians was the description of a new bird species – the Bugun liocichla – in Arunachal Pradesh in 2006. You believe that wildlife conservation will succeed only if the needs and concerns of the local community are part of the solution and toward this undertook the mentoring of the local Bugun tribal community to ensure conservation of this critically endangered species and its habitat. This resulted in the Singchung Bugun Village Community Reserve (SBVCR), where you work, winning the India Biodiversity Award in 2018. You and your Ph.D. students are involved in valuable ecology and astronomy research and through your science outreach work, you also spend considerable time engaging with young men and women in colleges and schools across India.
Untangling the complexities of biodiversity conservation and community sustenance is your life’s work and mission. Your spirited fight for the natural world and for the dignity and sustenance of local communities is a beacon in the world of today.