Guwahati, July 7: Dr. Bibhab Kumar Talukdar, founder Secretary General & Executive Director of premier biodiversity conservation organisation Aaranyak (www.aaranyak.org) and a globally recognised conservation biologist, has been elected as a Fellow of the Linnean Society of London (FLS), one of the highest international recognitions in the field of natural history and biological sciences.
The Linnean Society of London, founded in 1788, is the world’s oldest active biological society. It is dedicated to the study and dissemination of knowledge on natural history, evolution, and taxonomy. Past Fellows include luminaries such as Charles Darwin and Alfred Russel Wallace. Fellows (FLS) are elected based on their significant contributions to these fields. Election to its Fellowship is a significant academic and scientific honour.
Dr. Talukdar, an Ashoka Fellow (2007) and recipient of the IUCN SSC Harry Messel Award for Conservation Leadership (2024), has dedicated over three decades to biodiversity conservation, with a special focus on Asian rhinos.
He served as the chair of IUCN SSC Asian Rhino Specialist Group from 2007 till end of 2021-2025 IUCN quadrennium and has played a pivotal role in rhino conservation, habitat protection, prevention of illegal wildlife crime efforts, and community-based conservation efforts in Northeast India’s biodiversity hotspots.
Dr Talukdar was the prime mover behind setting up of Aaranyak in 1989 while he was still a student. Since then, he has been in the driving seat of the organisation over last 36 years during which Aaranyak has grown into a robust research-driven biodiversity conservation organisation operating with 14 divisions and at least two programmes. The organisation now employs about 250 individuals mostly, conservation scientists, biologists and researchers. Besides working in the North East India, Aaranyak’s works have acquired pan India dimension as on date.
