Ramanathapuram wildlife warden and director of Mannar Biosphere Reserve Bakan Jagdish Sudhakar has been named as a recipient of the Michel Batisse Award 2023 by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). According to a tweet by UNESCO New Delhi, Bakan will receive the award at a ceremony in Paris taking place from June 12, 2023, to June 15, 2023.

As the first Indian to receive the award, Bakan will also be presenting a short summary of his case study related to the Gulf of Mannar on June 14, 2023. "It is an honour to have won the 2023 Michel Batisse Award for Biosphere Reserve Management from UNESCO," the recipient of the award wrote in response on Twitter.