Dr. Biruté Galdikas
President of the Orangutan Foundation International, Dr. Galdikas is one of the greatest living ecologists and primatologists. She has spent more time studying humankind's closest living relatives than any other scientist in history. She has created a national park and scientific reserve in Indonesia to help protect the remaining orangutans and hopes to increase the size of that park, and adjoining conservation areas in the near future. Dr. Galdikas recognizes that the orangutan is the most similar of all species to humans. In their eyes, we see the last living inhabitants of the Garden of Eden, and can recognize our own highest ideals, gentleness and capacity to share unconditional love. Dr. Galdikas, Jane Goodall and the late Dian Fossey were mentored by the renowned paleontologist Louis Leakey. Leaky believed that we would not progress in our knowledge of evolutionary biology until we could truly understand orangutans, chimpanzees and gorillas.

Dr. Galdikas' 35 years in the jungles of Borneo and Sumatra living with the orangutans represents the longest sustained field study in history. And, it continues. Her wisdom, compassion, and tenacity are legendary. Today, many think of Dr. Galdikas as the Mother Teresa of Conservation.

During her intense and ongoing career, Dr. Galdikas has been the recipient of Indonesia's "Hero for the Earth Award", the "Mini" Nobel Science Award-Gustavus Adolphus, the United Nations Global 500 Environmental Award, and Eddie Bauer Hero for the Earth Award. Author of three books, she has been featured repeatedly in, and on the cover of, National Geographic, Life, and The New York Times. She has been profiled in numerous films and TV specials, among them a major documentary with Julia Roberts. Dr. Galdikas' deeply moving autobiography, Reflections of Eden: My Years with the Orangutans of Borneo was published in 1995.

For more about Dr. Galdikas, go to www.orangutan.org

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Dr. Ugyen Tshewang
Dr. Ugyen Tshewang is the founding Director of the National Biodiversity Centre, Serbithang, in Thimphu, Bhutan. Dr. Ugyen's outstanding contribution to preserving the biological heritage of Bhutan and the Eastern Himalayas sets a tremendous example for for conservationists worldwide. A scientist, animal protection advocate, and global ecologist, Dr. Ugyen Tshewang implemented an outstanding gene bank for preserving rare native species of the country, oversaw the national herbarium and sustained major work with respect to the country's 9 national parks, protected areas and biological corridors. Currently, Dr. Ugyen Tshewang was also charged with overseeing the National Biodiversity Action Plans, under the Convention on Biological Diversity.

In the Late Autumn of 2007, Dr. Tshewang was honored with becoming the new Governor, or Dzongdag, in the far eastern Trashi Yangste Province, an area which includes not only Bumdiling National Park, but also the Sakteng Wildlife Sanctuary.

PDF FILE: Dr. Ugyen Tshewang's Article

Bhutan National Parks

Dr. Tarun Chhabra
DSF Research Fellow, 2008.

In the early 1990s, Dr. Tarun Chhabra first championed the cause of helping the Toda people who are indigenous to the Upper Nilgiris in South India. He formed an NGO devoted to protecting their way of life and habitat. Dr. Chhabra realized that the Toda, one of the last vegetarian tribes in the world, were not only unique culturally, but were critical to the future of conservation in this vulnerable area of the Indian Sub-Continent. A botanist, anthropologist, ecologist and dentist, Dr. Chhabra later established the Edhkwehlynawd Botanical Refuge (See EBR/DSF Biodiversity Initiative), in recognition of the fact that ecological restoration throughout the Nilgiris was one of the leading conservation priorities for India, and that the Toda themselves were key to maintaining any and all environmental progress.

As one of the few non-Toda speakers of the Toda language (Ahl), Dr. Chhabra's research into rare and endemic plant species familiar to the Toda has proved to be critical to better understanding ecodynamics in southern India, where three national parks and scientific reserves converge within India's first UNESCO Man and the Biosphere Preserve. The many linguistic, cultural and ecological relationships throughout the Nilgiris, whose common denominator is the fewer than 1500 remaining Todas, forms the basis of a long-term research and conservation program spearheaded by Dr. Chhabra. The importance of these efforts, for saving the Todas, as well as their precious habitat, constitutes an inspiring example of grass roots conservation biology at its best.
DSF is honored to announce Dr. Tarun Chhabra as its Research Fellow, 2008.