Ludhiana, July 14, 2024 (Yes Punjab News)
Internationally renowned Soil Scientist, Padma Shri Professor Rattan Lal, an alumnus extraordinaire of PAU, has been bestowed upon the prestigious Gulbenkian Prize for Humanity – 2024, by the Portugal-based Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation (CGF).
The annual award is conferred upon individuals/organizations who richly contribute to global food security, climate resilience and ecosystem protection.
Professor Lal shares this year’s one million euro prize money with two other recipients – Andhra Pradesh Community Managed Natural Farming (APCNF), which is a state-wide programme supporting smallholders, predominantly women, who switched to natural farming; and Egypt-based SEKEM, which is a conglomeration of NGOs.
Professor Lal is also the Founder and Director of the Carbon Management and Sequestration Center at The Ohio State University. His work predominantly focuses on the soil carbon sequestration and climate change, soil health and global food security, soil degradation and restoration, soil quality and sustainable agriculture.
He has advanced the understanding of sustainable agriculture and climate resilience by promoting research and education in sustainable soil management.
A recipient of several illustrious awards, Professor Lal was also the ‘Lead Author for the IPCC’ (1998-2000) and was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize Certificate by the IPCC (2007). He also earned the reputable honour of being the ‘Global Dryland Champion of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification’, Bonn, Germany, (2013).
Professor Lal is also decorated with distinguished awards such as ‘Japan Prize’ (2019), ‘World Food Prize’ (2020), ‘Padma Shri Award’ (2021) and ‘Plant Science and Agronomy Leader Award’ (2024). He was also ranked as ‘World’s Most Cited Plant Science and Agronomy Scientist’ (2024), thereby establishing his academic and research eminence.
In a generous gesture, aptly befitting a selfless scientist committed to the cause of intensive research, Professor Rattan Lal expressed his desire to donate the $350,000 award money to Ohio State and elaborated that the $15,000 annual interest generated from the award amount would be provided as assistance to three research scholars from PAU and IARI, who would be invited over to the Lal Carbon Center and vice-versa.
He shared that the formal academic arrangements for the Scholarship Program would begin from Summer 2025.
The Vice-Chancellor of Punjab Agricultural University, Dr. Satbir Singh Gosal, extended heartfelt congratulations to Professor Rattan Lal for being an honourable co-recipient of the 2024 Gulbenkian Prize for Humanity.
Dr Gosal also expressed his gratitude to the iconic scientist for his altruistic gesture of considering Punjab Agricultural University, his alma mater, for the benign support for scholars to pursue research in the area of carbon management and sequestration.
“The PAU fraternity acknowledges the seminal research of Professor Rattan Lal and is proud of the accolades he richly deserves. His reverent gesture of including potential scholars from his alma mater in his boundless vision is indeed commendable”, he added.
