Two Indian conservationists, Parveen Shaikh and Barkha Subba, have been named among the six global recipients of the 2026 Whitley Award, widely known as the “Green Oscar”. Shaikh was recognised for her community-led initiative to protect the endangered Indian Skimmer along India’s river systems, while Subba was honoured for her grassroots work safeguarding the rare Himalayan salamander and its shrinking wetland habitat in the Darjeeling hills. Each winner receives £50,000 in project funding for one year, awarded by the UK-based Whitley Fund for Nature (WFN).
What Is the Whitley Award?
The Whitley Award, often called the “Green Oscar”, is one of the most prestigious international prizes for grassroots conservation. It was established in 1994 by Edward Whitley OBE and is administered by the Whitley Fund for Nature, a UK charity that has channelled £26 million to support over 230 conservation leaders in 84 countries across the Global South. The awards are presented annually by the charity’s Patron, HRH The Princess Royal, at a ceremony held at the Royal Geographical Society in London. Unlike many conservation funding models, WFN does not deploy its own staff to project sites. Instead, it identifies and supports local leaders already working effectively in their home countries, providing funding, media training, and global visibility. The awards focus exclusively on the Global South (Asia, Africa, and Latin America), where biodiversity is richest but conservation funding is scarcest. WFN Ambassador and former Trustee Sir David Attenborough has been closely associated with the charity for over two decades.
Parveen Shaikh: Guardians of the Indian Skimmer
Parveen Shaikh is a scientist at the Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS), one of India’s oldest and largest non-governmental organisations engaged in conservation and biodiversity research. BNHS was founded on 15 September 1883, is headquartered at Hornbill House in Mumbai, and serves as the BirdLife International partner in India.
Shaikh’s work focuses on the Indian Skimmer (Rynchops albicollis), a striking river bird known for its bright orange bill and a distinctive feeding method of flying low over water and skimming the surface to catch fish. The species is classified as Endangered on the IUCN Red List and is listed under Schedule I of India’s Wildlife Protection Act, 1972, giving it the highest level of legal protection. India holds over 90 percent of the global population of this bird, estimated at roughly 3,000 individuals, making the country critical to the species’ survival.
The Nest Guardian Programme
Shaikh launched the “Guardians of the Skimmer” initiative on the Chambal River, a tributary of the Yamuna that flows through a protected 600 km stretch known as the National Chambal Sanctuary. When she began her work in 2017, the local Indian Skimmer population stood at just 400 birds. The birds breed on seasonal sandbars and mid-river islands, making their nests highly vulnerable to predators such as free-ranging dogs and jackals, as well as trampling by cattle and disturbance from sand mining.
Through the initiative, Shaikh recruited and trained over 30 local community members as nest guardians. These guardians monitor nesting sites, protect eggs and chicks from predators, track water levels, and use GPS mapping for real-time data collection. The results have been remarkable. Nest survival rates more than doubled from 14 percent to 27 percent, and the monitored population along the Chambal grew to nearly 1,000 individuals by 2025, a 150 percent increase in eight years.
Expansion to Prayagraj
With the £50,000 Whitley Award funding, Shaikh plans to expand this model to Prayagraj in Uttar Pradesh, where the Ganga and Yamuna rivers converge. This new site is home to significant breeding populations of Indian Skimmers, River Lapwings, and Little Terns but faces intense human pressure from boat traffic, fishing, religious practices along the riverbank, urban pollution, and scavenger activity. The project will appoint new local guardians, install predator-proof fencing, trial artificial nesting platforms, and strengthen coordination with government agencies and local communities.
Barkha Subba: Saving the Himalayan Salamander
Dr Barkha Subba is a scientific adviser at the Federation of Societies for Environmental Protection (FOSEP), a Darjeeling-based NGO. Hailing from an Indigenous community in the Darjeeling hills, Subba has dedicated herself to protecting the Himalayan salamander (Tylototriton himalayanus), a rare and evolutionarily distinct amphibian endemic to the Eastern Himalayas.
The Himalayan salamander, which can grow up to 17 cm in length and live for up to 11 years, is one of only two salamander species found in India. It is listed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List and is classified under Appendix II of CITES, which regulates international trade in the species. Once widely distributed across Darjeeling’s cool, shaded wetlands and forest fringes, the salamander is now confined to roughly 30 breeding sites in the Darjeeling hills, with additional populations in Nepal’s Ilam district and western Bhutan.
Why the Salamander Is Under Threat
The salamander exhibits philopatry, meaning it returns to its natal site to breed and lay eggs. This strong site fidelity makes it highly vulnerable to even minor habitat changes. Wetland loss, unregulated tourism, tea garden land diversification, pollution, invasive species, and climate change have all contributed to the degradation and shrinkage of its breeding habitats. The chytrid fungus (Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis), a deadly pathogen that has caused the decline of over 500 amphibian species and the extinction of 90 species globally, poses an additional existential threat.
The Conservation Plan
Subba’s project, titled “Survivor of a Lost World: Saving the Himalayan Salamander and its Wetlands”, focuses on seven critical breeding sites across the Darjeeling hills. These include:
| Site | Land Ownership |
|---|---|
| Margaret’s Hope | Tea garden |
| Nakhapani | Tea garden |
| Namthing Biodiversity Heritage Site | Government land |
| Majhidura | Forest department and community |
| Mirik | Private |
| Pokhriabong (two sites) | Forest department and community |
The project involves restoring degraded wetlands by removing invasive species and replanting native vegetation, screening salamander populations for chytrid fungus, and running awareness programmes for tea garden workers, local communities, and school students. Subba’s long-term vision includes establishing a transboundary wetland conservation framework spanning India, Nepal, and Bhutan, recognising the ecological continuity of the Eastern Himalayas.
Other 2026 Whitley Award Recipients
Apart from the two Indian winners, four other conservationists received the 2026 Whitley Award, each working on unique conservation challenges in their home countries.
| Winner | Country | Conservation Focus |
|---|---|---|
| Dr Moreangels Mbizah | Zimbabwe | Human lion coexistence in the lower Zambezi Valley |
| Dr Issah Seidu | Ghana | Protecting guitarfish and establishing Ghana’s first Locally Managed Marine Area |
| Dr Marina Kameni | Cameroon | Reviving endemic amphibian populations in Mount Manengouba, a global amphibian hotspot |
| Dr Paola Sangolquí | Ecuador | Protecting the Critically Endangered Galapagos Petrel from invasive species |
The Whitley Gold Award 2026
The Whitley Gold Award, worth £120,000 and given to a past Whitley Award winner for outstanding long-term contribution, was awarded to Farwiza Farhan of Indonesia. She leads the HAkA Foundation, working to protect the Leuser Ecosystem in Sumatra, a 2.7 million hectare UNESCO World Heritage Site and the only place on Earth where orangutans, elephants, rhinos, and tigers still coexist in the wild. Farhan had previously won a Whitley Award in 2016.
Key Takeaways
- Two Indian conservationists, Parveen Shaikh and Barkha Subba, won the 2026 Whitley Award, known as the “Green Oscar”, each receiving £50,000 in project funding.
- Parveen Shaikh, a scientist at the Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS) founded in 1883, has led the “Guardians of the Skimmer” initiative that more than doubled the Indian Skimmer population from 400 to nearly 1,000 birds on the Chambal River.
- The Indian Skimmer is classified as Endangered on the IUCN Red List and listed under Schedule I of the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972.
- Dr Barkha Subba, a scientific adviser at FOSEP, is leading the first coordinated grassroots effort to protect the Himalayan salamander, a Vulnerable species endemic to India, Nepal, and Bhutan.
- The Whitley Fund for Nature, established in 1994 by Edward Whitley OBE, has channelled £26 million to over 230 conservation leaders in 84 countries across the Global South.
- The Whitley Gold Award 2026 (worth £120,000) was awarded to Indonesia’s Farwiza Farhan for protecting the Leuser Ecosystem in Sumatra.
