Bhupender Yadav Presents 4th Eco Warrior Awards 2026

Union Minister for Environment, Forest and Climate Change Bhupender Yadav presided over the 4th Eco Warrior Awards and the accompanying Eco Warrior Conclave in New Delhi. The awards are organised by the Indian Forest Service Association (IFSA) together with Indian Masterminds, and they recognise work done in forest, wildlife and environmental conservation.

Who was honoured

The Lifetime Achievement Award went to Brij Kishore Singh, an IFS officer of the 1976 batch from the Karnataka cadre. His career included work against sandalwood smuggling and against the activities of the brigand Veerappan, alongside forest protection and wildlife conservation duties in Karnataka. In all, 15 forest officers were honoured for exemplary contribution to conservation.

The award categories

A Special Projects Recognition went to Project Elephant and to the Great Indian Bustard conservation project in Rajasthan. One of the Special Jury citations covered a campaign that removed 239 illegal guns from the landscape while strengthening elephant protection, and another covered the restoration of the Tal Chhapar grassland for blackbuck and chinkara.

What the Minister said

Yadav described conservation as a national responsibility and not merely a government one. He called India's forests vital ecological infrastructure supporting water, climate, soil, biodiversity and livelihoods, and named tribal and forest-dependent communities as partners in conservation. He listed climate change, extreme weather, forest fires, water stress, habitat fragmentation and invasive species as the emerging challenges, and urged a landscape approach that ties together forests, wildlife, agriculture, water, livelihoods and human settlements. The Conclave held three panel discussions, on artificial intelligence and technology for conservation, the role of corporates in forest management, and sustainable development and environmental ethics.