Renowned naturalist and broadcaster Sir David Attenborough has been honoured with Indira Gandhi Prize 2019 for ‘Peace, Disarmament and Development’.
The award was announced by an International Jury of the Indira Gandhi Prize for Peace, Disarmament and Development, chaired by the former President of India, Shri Pranab Mukherjee, on the 102nd birth anniversary of India’s former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.
Attenborough is an English broadcaster and natural historian who is known for his documentaries on animal and plant life on Earth. Attenborough’s contribution to broadcasting and wildlife film-making has brought him international recognition.
While announcing the award to the 93-year-old naturalist and broadcaster, the Indira Gandhi Memorial Trust said, “Few individuals have come to be as identified with the well being of our planet, of all living creatures and their relationship with human beings, as Sir David. For over five decades he has produced and anchored the most compelling visual documentaries and histories of animal and plant life on Earth. He has written numerous fascinating books on his projects.”
“In recent years, he has drawn attention to one of the most destructive forces of our era: the threat to nature from a predatory humankind. In a lifetime of communicating effectively and evocatively about the natural world, he has become a powerful and persuasive voice on the need to heed warnings of looming ecological disaster, to maintain the earth’s delicate ecological balance, and to cherish and preserve the natural world. As a natural historian and broadcaster, he has educated and made aware many generations, and many millions of ordinary people, of the glory of life on our planet and the dangers that imperil it.”
He has been called “the great communicator, the peerless educator” and “the greatest broadcaster of our time.” At least 20 species and genera, both living and extinct, have been named in Attenborough’s honour.
