KATHMANDU, FEBRUARY 23 The Brian Hodgson Award for Nature Conservation 2026 was presented to Dr. Hemanta Raj Mishra, Nepal's leading wildlife biologist, at a ceremony held on Sunday, 22 February 2026, at the Aloft Hotel, Kathmandu. The event was jointly hosted by Mrs. Pratima Pande MBE, President of the Nepal Britain Society, and Dr. Hem Sagar Baral, Founder President of Himalayan Nature, the organisation that established the award in 2010 during the International Year of Biodiversity. The award is named in honour of Brian Houghton Hodgson, the renowned British naturalist, ethnologist, and early Himalayan scholar, who discovered 39 new mammal species and 124 bird species from the Himalayan region and whose zoological collections were presented to the British Museum in 1843 and 1858. The ceremony brought together representatives from conservation organisations, diplomatic circles, and the broader nature conservation community. The programme featured speeches from representatives of multiple organisations, followed by the formal presentation of the award, with dignitaries joining on stage to confer the honour upon Dr. Mishra. Dr. Mishra then addressed the gathering, reflecting on his experiences and observations over a distinguished career and expressing his gratitude to the organisations and individuals present. Fellow dignitaries also took to the stage to offer their congratulations to the recipient. Dr. Mishra's career in nature conservation spans nearly six decades, beginning in 1967 when he joined Nepal's Ministry of Forest and Environment as a forester. By 1971, he was a founding member of Nepal's Department of National Parks and Wildlife Conservation, where his team established a network of national parks and protected areas across the country. He later served as the founding Member-Secretary and Executive Director of the National Trust for Nature Conservation (NTNC). Among his most notable contributions are the creation of the Annapurna Conservation Area Project (ACAP), the relocation of the Chitwan rhinoceros population to Bardia National Park, and his efforts to address human-wildlife conflict through community-based programmes in Chitwan, Annapurna, and Sagarmatha National Parks. Dr. Mishra holds a Ph.D. in nature sciences from the University of Edinburgh and has been recognised internationally for his work, including with the J. Paul Getty Conservation Prize in 1987. He has authored numerous publications, including popular books and technical articles in international journals.