Professor Centre for Ecological Sciences (CES), Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bangalore - 560 012, India. Phone: (91-80) 360 0985 or 293 2507 or 293 2506 Fax : (91-80) 360 1453 or 360 1428 or 360 0683 Email:

The endangered Asian elephant took a step nearer survival in March when ecologist Raman Sukumar of Southern India was awarded £50,000 at the annual Whitley Awards ceremony at the Royal Geographical Society in London.

Presenting Sukumar with both the Whitley Gold Award and the Whitley Laing Foundation's Friends Award, HRH The Princess Royal - patron of the Whitley Laing Foundation - said the most important challenge facing conservationists was the need to strike a balance between the world's wild and human populations. She said: "We share this planet, and we need to share the environment we live in. This is not a single issue, it's a co-operative issue between different species. We need to understand what enables each of us to survive, within that context."

Sukumar, 47, from Southern India has dedicated his life to saving the Asian elephant. His award will help provide support to local farmers to mitigate the impacts of elephants on their lands as well as supporting his field research team who act as a watchdog identifying threats such as poaching for ivory and monitoring the health of the elephant population. 

Each year the judges face really tough decisions as all of the Finalists are of extremely high calibre and completely committed to the conservation work they are undertaking. said Edward Whitley, founder of the Whitley Awards. Raman Sukumar is a truly exceptional person who most probably knows more about elephants than anyone else in the world and has devoted his professional life to their survival. We are honoured to be able to support his work by presenting him with the Whitley Gold Award.