Raman Sukumar (born 1955) is an Indian

ecologist Ecology () is the natural science of the relationships among living organisms and their environment. Ecology considers organisms at the individual, population, community, ecosystem, and biosphere levels. Ecology overlaps with the closely re ...

best known for his work on the ecology of the

Asian elephant The Asian elephant (''Elephas maximus''), also known as the Asiatic elephant, is the only living ''Elephas'' species. It is the largest living land animal in Asia and the second largest living Elephantidae, elephantid in the world. It is char ...

and

human–wildlife conflict Human–wildlife conflict (HWC) refers to the negative interactions between humans and wild animals, with undesirable consequences both for people and their resources on the one hand, and wildlife and their habitats on the other. HWC, caused by ...

. He also works on

climate change Present-day climate change includes both global warming—the ongoing increase in Global surface temperature, global average temperature—and its wider effects on Earth's climate system. Climate variability and change, Climate change in ...

, and

tropical forest Tropical forests are forested ecoregions with tropical climates – that is, land areas approximately bounded by the Tropic of Cancer, tropics of Cancer and Tropic of Capricorn, Capricorn, but possibly affected by other factors such as prevailing ...

ecology.

Early life and education

Raman Sukumar was born in India in 1955. He received his

Bachelor of Science A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, B.S., B.Sc., SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree that is awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Scienc ...

degree from the

University of Madras The University of Madras is a public university, public State university (India), state university in Chennai (Madras), Tamil Nadu, India. Established in 1857, it is one of the oldest and most prominent universities in India, incorporated by an ...

in 1977 and did a Masters in

botany Botany, also called plant science, is the branch of natural science and biology studying plants, especially Plant anatomy, their anatomy, Plant taxonomy, taxonomy, and Plant ecology, ecology. A botanist or plant scientist is a scientist who s ...

at the same university. He obtained a

PhD A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...

from the

Indian Institute of Science The Indian Institute of Science (IISc) is a Public university, public, Deemed university, deemed, research university for higher education and research in science, engineering, design, and management. It is located in Bengaluru, Karnataka. The ...

in 1985.

Career

In 1986, Sukumar helped to design the

Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve The Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve is a biosphere reserve in the Nilgiri Mountains of the Western Ghats in South India. It is the largest protected forest area in India, spreading across Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Kerala. It includes the protected ...

, the first of its kind in India. In 1997, he set up the Asian Nature Conservation Foundation, a public charitable trust that incorporates the Asian Elephant Research and Conservation Centre, an organization that has carried out several field projects in India and other Asian countries on elephants and their habitats. In 1991, he was a

Fulbright Fellow The Fulbright Program, including the Fulbright–Hays Program, is one of several United States cultural exchange programs with the goal of improving intercultural relations, cultural diplomacy, and intercultural competence between the people o ...

Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private Ivy League research university in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial ...

. From 2004–12, he was the Chair at the Centre for Ecological Sciences at the

for over eight years. He continues to pursue conservation-based scientific research as an honorary professor at this center and is often called upon to represent Indian wildlife scientists in international, national, and regional governmental committees.

Awards

In 2006, he was awarded the

International Cosmos Prize The International Cosmos Prize was established in 1993, commemorating Expo '90 in Osaka, Japan. The objective of the prize was to develop the basic concept of Expo '90, "The Harmonious Coexistence between Nature and Humankind" and is awarded by t ...

, Japan, the first Indian to receive this award. He was also commended by the Prime Minister of India for contributions to the

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is an intergovernmental body of the United Nations. Its job is to "provide governments at all levels with scientific information that they can use to develop climate policies". The World Met ...

(IPCC) that shared the Nobel Peace Prize in 2007.

Awards and fellowships

* 1991: Presidential Award of the Chicago Zoological Society, USA * 1997: Order of the Golden Ark (The Netherlands) * 2000: Fellow of the Indian Academy of Sciences * 2003: Whitley Gold Award for International Nature Conservation UK * 2004: T. N. Khoshoo Memorial Award for Conservation Science, Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and Environment, India * 2005: Fellow of the Indian National Science Academy * 2006:

, Japan * 2006: Fellow, Geological Society of India * 2013: Fellow,

The World Academy of Sciences The World Academy of Sciences for the advancement of science in developing countries (TWAS) is a North–south research partnerships, merit-based science academy established for developing countries, uniting more than 1,400 scientists in some 1 ...

, Italy

Works

* ''The Asian Elephant: Ecology and Management'' (1989, Cambridge Univ. Press) * ''Elephant Days and Nights: Ten years with the Indian Elephant'' (1994, Oxford Univ. Press) * ''The Living Elephants: Evolutionary Ecology, Behavior and Conservation'' (2003, Oxford Univ. Press) * ''The Story of Asia's Elephants'' (2011, Marg Publishers)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sukumar, Raman 1955 births Indian environmentalists University of Madras alumni Living people Indian ecologists 20th-century Indian zoologists