The Mayor of Barcelona, Ada Colau, has given today the Nat Award 2021 to the American ecologist Nalini Nadkarni in a ceremony held at the Museum of Natural Sciences of Barcelona. The scientist has been awarded with this distinction for her studies on the ecology of the tropical forest canopy and for her intense task of communication of nature values. In addition, the Centre Excursionista de Catalunya and the Institució Catalana d'Història Natural have been awarded the Nat Mention of Honour for their academic, educational and dissemination work in the natural sciences.
The ceremony, presided over by Mayor Ada Colau, has been led by the Museum’s director, Anna Omedes, and has also been attended by the naturalist and archaeologist Jordi Serrallonga, and the environmental journalist Carlota Bruna. Nalini Nadkarni has given the talk entitled Weaving a tapestry of science, nature and people to protect our unique earth. The ecologist received the Nat Award for her enthusiastic work in research and dissemination of biodiversity and the environment, focused on the study and defence of the planet’s forests; and for the creation of original communication and educational tools, aimed at all areas of society, which also affect gender issues and groups at risk of exclusion.
As for the Nat Mention of Honour, the Centre Excursionista de Catalunya and the Institució Catalana d’Història Natural have been distinguished for their great academic and educational work in the understanding, exploration, research and dissemination of natural sciences, as well as in the preservation of the environment among citizens. A task that began in the 19th century, which continues successfully to the present day, and which has made a decisive contribution to the history of the Natural Sciences Museum of Barcelona.
The jury that awarded these prizes was made up of Dacha Atienza, head of Research and Collections at the Natural Sciences Museum of Barcelona, Mara Dierssen, neurobiologist and science communicator, Martí Domínguez, biologist and director of the magazine Mètode, Xavier Duran, journalist for TV3, Teresa Garnatje, director of the Botanical Institute of Barcelona, Anna Omedes, director of the Natural Sciences Museum of Barcelona, and Joandomènec Ros, professor of Ecology at the University of Barcelona.
Nalini Nadkarni
Nalini Nadkarni is a pioneer in the study of the canopy ecosystem in tropical and temperate forests and is known as the Queen of the Forest Canopy. In particular, she studies how epiphytes, non-parasitic plants that grow on other plants, survive, and also the effects of forest fragmentation on biodiversity. She is co-founder of the International Canopy Network, a non-profit organisation that fosters the creation of communication tools for researchers, educators and conservationists concerned with forest canopies.
Nadkarni is a professor of biology at the University of Utah and Evergreen State College in Olympia, Washington. She has written nearly 130 scientific articles and half a dozen books, including specialist and popular books for adults and children.
In addition to her work as a researcher, Nadkarni is an activist and a passionate communicator of nature and science, with special emphasis on disadvantaged groups and those at risk of exclusion. Among her initiatives, she has promoted conservation projects in prisons, has invited artists from the world of rap, dance, literature and visual art to the forests to be inspired to create their pieces, has approached religious communities through talks on the role that trees play in the symbolism of almost all faiths, and has even collaborated with the company that produces Barbie dolls to create a series of scientists. In short, she has shown that everyone can contribute to the conservation of biodiversity.
Nadkarni‘s work has earned her some fifteen awards, to which she has now been added the Nat Award 2021.
The Nat Award
The award was created in 2018 to commemorate the Museum’s 140th anniversary. It is an honorary distinction that rewards individuals or institutions that have brought a new look to the dissemination of natural sciences and have contributed to create scientific vocations and conserve nature. The winners of the Nat Prize receive a piece specially designed by the sculptor Antoni Llena and the winners of the Mention of Honour, a silkscreen by the painter Perico Pastor.