Inaugural biodiversity award for Ela Foundation

Pune: City-based Ela Foundation will receive the first biodiversity award instituted by the state government for helping preserve biodiversity in the state.

The founders of the Ela Foundation, Satish and Suruchi Pande, will receive the award at the Maharashtra State Biodiversity Board (MSBB) headquarters in Nagpur on its foundation day on January 3.

The award will be presented by state forest minister Sudhir Mungantiwar, who also holds the finance portfolio.

“The award is for outstanding work in preserving biodiversity in the state, and we are happy to receive the honour from the forest minister,” Satish Pande, the founder of the Ela Foundation, told TOI.

The foundation has worked for preserving and documenting a number of species of flora and fauna, and also produced the official periodical of the forest department.

It has developed a forested area, a few miles from Jejuri, called Ela Habitat, where multiple species of flora and fauna, have flourished, which were otherwise endangered. The foundation will host the world owl conference next year.