Barman won the Whitley Gold Award 2024 for her work to protect the Greater Adjutant stork and its wetland habitat. There were just about 450 storks or “hargila” as the birds are locally known in Assam, India, before Barman started working to save them.

Their natural habitats were destroyed by the building of roads and mobile phone towers. Barman and her team worked with local communities, especially women, to create the “Hargila Army” to safeguard storks’ nests. The army rehabilitates injured storks which have fallen from their nests and arranges “baby showers” to celebrate the arrival of newborn chicks. The effort led to an increase in the number of storks, which have now quadrupled to more than 1,800. Barman aims to double the global population of the bird to 5,000 by 2030, working across the stork’s range in India and Cambodia.

(Photo: Rewilding Academy)