PUNE: Noted ecologist Madhav Gadgil, renowned for his work on the Western Ghats, passed away in Pune on Thursday following a brief illness, family sources confirmed. He was 83.Gadgil breathed his last late Wednesday night at a Pune hospital, the sources added.In 2024, the United Nations honoured him with the Champions of the Earth award, the organisation’s highest environmental accolade, recognizing his seminal contributions to the conservation of the Western Ghats, a global biodiversity hotspot.He had also chaired the government-appointed Western Ghats Ecology Expert Panel, which studied the effects of population pressure, climate change, and development activities on the ecologically sensitive region.(With agency inputs)