The Ecological Society of America (ESA) announced Alejandra Echeverri, Assistant Professor in the Department of Environmental Science, Policy, and Management and DSE faculty advisor, is a recipient of the 2026 Sustainability Science Award. The award honors “Biocultural vulnerability of traditional crops in the Indian Trans-Himalaya,” which was published in Science Advances last year. According to ESA, this research “makes the greatest contribution to the emerging science of ecosystem and regional sustainability through the integration of ecological and social sciences.” Authors include Harman Jaggi (Princeton University), Akshata Anand (Nature Conservation Foundation, based in India), Katherine A. Solari (Stanford University), Echeverri, Rinchen Tobge (Nature Conservation Foundation), Tanzin Tsewang (Nature Conservation Foundation), Kulbhushansingh Suryawanshi (Nature Conservation Foundation), and Shripad Tuljapurkar (Stanford University).

The research examines the ecological resilience, genetic diversity and cultural and nutritional significance of traditional high-altitude crops in the western Himalaya, focusing on black pea and barley. Importantly, the study situates these findings within a broader socio-ecological context, showing how agricultural change reflects the disruption of long-standing relationships among people, plants and place. 

“Having all coauthors from the Global South on an award-winning paper is still far too rare,” said Professor Echeverri. “This recognition is an affirmation of what rigorous, community-based science can look like: work that validates Traditional Ecological Knowledge and weaves together methods from farmer interviews to genomics and experimental biology.”

Each year ESA recognizes outstanding contributions to ecology in new discoveries, teaching, sustainability, diversity and lifelong commitment to the profession. Dozens of faculty and graduate students from all over the world received 2026 awards, although Echeverri is the only faculty member or student at UC Berkeley to do so this year.