The Marsh Awards are awarded annually by the Marsh Trust, in partnership with BGCI, in recognition of excellence in International Plant Conservation and Botanic Garden Education.

BGCI is pleased to announce Deepu Sivadas as the winner of the 2021 Marsh Award for International Plant Conservation and Serena Dorigotti as the winner of the 2021 Marsh Award for Education in Botanic Gardens.

The webinar awards ceremony for the 2021 Marsh Awards took place on 7th of April.

Missed it? Watch it here:

Deepu Sivadas – 2021 Marsh Award for International Plant Conservation

Deepu has been involved in assessing the conservation status of species, particularly tree species, in the Western Ghats, India. He has so far contributed to updating the status of about 100 species as an assessor, contributor, and reviewer. Although the Western Ghats is one of the world’s biodiversity hotspots, home to ~7,500 plant species with a high degree of endemism, the majority of its species haven’t yet been assessed.

Deepu has shown a high degree of dedication and motivation to the conservation of threatened plant species, and has also contributed to the development of an ex situ conservatory of threatened species in the Western Ghats. His work will help develop a better understanding of the conservation status of species in the Western Ghats, and in doing so will guide future conservation projects in the region.

Serena Dorigotti – 2021 Marsh Award for Education in Botanic Gardens

Over the past ten years, Serena has designed and developed 26 new educational activities for schools and over 60 events for the public in Trento, Italy, engaging a wide range of audiences. She is committed to sharing the importance of plants with the public, highlighting their use in everyday life and the importance of their conservation for sustainability. Since 2010, Serena has worked with local schools to guide them in developing unique vegetable gardens with conservation value in their grounds, with approx. 50 displays created to date all over the region.

In 2013, Serena also contributed to the EU project INQUIRE, making the most of the collaboration with educators from sixteen Botanic Gardens across Europe to adapt project training on IBSE for teachers, reaching out to 376 teachers and botanic garden educators. She regularly works to build capacity for education in botanic gardens at meetings of the Italian network of botanic gardens, running workshops and presenting new ideas.