URBAN ECOLOGY:
Biodiversity assessment:
Understanding species diversity and distribution is among the first steps to understand the ecological sensitivity of a landscape and an important step towards setting conservation priorities at the local level. Since 2014 I have been an external biodiversity consultant for Environment Resource Management Group. Inc... State Forest Departments and other groups. The work included attempts to study the effects of over 6 Wind farms on the environment particularly birds among other studies. It spanned the states of Karnataka, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu. The primary goal of these studies was to assess biodiversity, measure levels of impact (short and long-term) and provide mitigation measures to reduce impact.
Biodiversity assessment:
Understanding species diversity and distribution is among the first steps to understand the ecological sensitivity of a landscape and an important step towards setting conservation priorities at the local level. Since 2014 I have been an external biodiversity consultant for Environment Resource Management Group. Inc... State Forest Departments and other groups. The work included attempts to study the effects of over 6 Wind farms on the environment particularly birds among other studies. It spanned the states of Karnataka, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu. The primary goal of these studies was to assess biodiversity, measure levels of impact (short and long-term) and provide mitigation measures to reduce impact.
Community-based conservation:
My greatest personal fulfilment is that of my long term work with communities and private institutions where I can make direct impact where it matters. Very often negative connotations arise due to the idea that human activities have negative effects on the environment while living close to 'wild spaces'. I believe that humans can have shared territories with wildlife with a little bit of help irrespective of where we are. As a conservation practitioner we need to negotiate through this space building metaphorical bridges. I try to build on just that working with various stakeholders in these spaces and communities.
I currently work with three communities, one set in a community estate in the Kalakad-Mundanthurai Tiger Reserve in the southern-most district of Tamil Nadu in the Western Ghats and two other set near Eastern Ghats in the Southern-most district of Andhra Pradesh(Chittoor) at the Christian Medical College, Chittoor campus, Andhra Pradesh and Northern most district of Tamil Nadu(Vellore) at the Schieffelin Institute of Health Research and Leprosy Centre (SIHRLC), Vellore, Tamil Nadu.
The community estate I work at is a 100 years old and has a rich history of studying wildlife among other best practices including responsible handling of the estate and the surrounding landscape in co-operation with the local Forest Department. Through the generous funding of the Department of Environment, Government of Tamil Nadu I have co-authored a book covering this story. The book is titled ‘’Grey Forest- an Eden in the Western Ghats, then and now’’ is now available (on request). Coverage of the work by Mongabay India can be seen here.
Currently I undertake biodiversity assessment and provide ecological planning consultation on three hospital & educational campuses- two belonging to Christian Medical College, Chittoor campus, Andhra Pradesh (700 & 300 acres roughly) & one of Schieffelin Institute of Health Research and Leprosy Centre (SIHRLC), Vellore, Tamil Nadu. (250 acres). It
involves leading biodiversity assessments and having discussions /negotiations with master planners, architects, engineers and other stakeholders of the community on effective tolerance, reconciliation with the ecology of the verdant campus. The campus encompasses scrub forests, hillocks, grasslands, streams, small check dams. I add value by providing suggestions and provide innovative solutions by bridging ecological knowledge and need of the community, thereby minimizing the impact on wildlife and nature. I further work to increase awareness and socio-ecological responsibility among members of the community. An ongoing program includes training Security staff and gardeners in non-invasive, safe removal techniques of snakes.
The work at Christian Medical College was presented at an International Workshop on Spatial and Environmental Justice , Environmental Care and Stewardship: Dialogues among schools of thought. French Institute of Pondicherry on
March 21-22, 2019.
The work also was recently covered in the news. Click here.
Nature education & Citizen Science:
I am also a part time nature educator and have been engaged in it since 2007 when i first joined the Docent program of the Madras Crocodile Bank Trust and Arignar Anna Zoological Park. I have since been actively engaging with nature education and frequently host workshops for adults and children. Every summer i lead the naturalist team at Frolic Boonies Nature Camp and frequently host weekly workshops with various other partners like ecoLogin and schools throughout the year on a request basis. Over 3000 students and adults have been a part of these workshops and camps till date. Feel free to contact via mail Id if this is of interest to you.
With my passion to document wildspaces one of my dreams has been to develop a digital database of flora and fauna creating distribution maps for the state of Tamil Nadu. Most taxa groups are very poorly studied and do not have a published checklist done in a few decades. As a part of this effort i support efforts like Asian Waterfowl Census and various faunal Census with Forest Department and other agencies and encourage citizen science activities. It started with informal efforts by creating state-level groups on Social media like Facebook and then harvest the data and now has moved to Citizen Science platforms like eBird, India Biodiversity Portal and iNaturalist. It still is nascent and has much room for growth in terms of public participation especially for non-charimatic taxa groups.
My greatest personal fulfilment is that of my long term work with communities and private institutions where I can make direct impact where it matters. Very often negative connotations arise due to the idea that human activities have negative effects on the environment while living close to 'wild spaces'. I believe that humans can have shared territories with wildlife with a little bit of help irrespective of where we are. As a conservation practitioner we need to negotiate through this space building metaphorical bridges. I try to build on just that working with various stakeholders in these spaces and communities.
I currently work with three communities, one set in a community estate in the Kalakad-Mundanthurai Tiger Reserve in the southern-most district of Tamil Nadu in the Western Ghats and two other set near Eastern Ghats in the Southern-most district of Andhra Pradesh(Chittoor) at the Christian Medical College, Chittoor campus, Andhra Pradesh and Northern most district of Tamil Nadu(Vellore) at the Schieffelin Institute of Health Research and Leprosy Centre (SIHRLC), Vellore, Tamil Nadu.
The community estate I work at is a 100 years old and has a rich history of studying wildlife among other best practices including responsible handling of the estate and the surrounding landscape in co-operation with the local Forest Department. Through the generous funding of the Department of Environment, Government of Tamil Nadu I have co-authored a book covering this story. The book is titled ‘’Grey Forest- an Eden in the Western Ghats, then and now’’ is now available (on request). Coverage of the work by Mongabay India can be seen here.
Currently I undertake biodiversity assessment and provide ecological planning consultation on three hospital & educational campuses- two belonging to Christian Medical College, Chittoor campus, Andhra Pradesh (700 & 300 acres roughly) & one of Schieffelin Institute of Health Research and Leprosy Centre (SIHRLC), Vellore, Tamil Nadu. (250 acres). It
involves leading biodiversity assessments and having discussions /negotiations with master planners, architects, engineers and other stakeholders of the community on effective tolerance, reconciliation with the ecology of the verdant campus. The campus encompasses scrub forests, hillocks, grasslands, streams, small check dams. I add value by providing suggestions and provide innovative solutions by bridging ecological knowledge and need of the community, thereby minimizing the impact on wildlife and nature. I further work to increase awareness and socio-ecological responsibility among members of the community. An ongoing program includes training Security staff and gardeners in non-invasive, safe removal techniques of snakes.
The work at Christian Medical College was presented at an International Workshop on Spatial and Environmental Justice , Environmental Care and Stewardship: Dialogues among schools of thought. French Institute of Pondicherry on
March 21-22, 2019.
The work also was recently covered in the news. Click here.
Nature education & Citizen Science:
I am also a part time nature educator and have been engaged in it since 2007 when i first joined the Docent program of the Madras Crocodile Bank Trust and Arignar Anna Zoological Park. I have since been actively engaging with nature education and frequently host workshops for adults and children. Every summer i lead the naturalist team at Frolic Boonies Nature Camp and frequently host weekly workshops with various other partners like ecoLogin and schools throughout the year on a request basis. Over 3000 students and adults have been a part of these workshops and camps till date. Feel free to contact via mail Id if this is of interest to you.
With my passion to document wildspaces one of my dreams has been to develop a digital database of flora and fauna creating distribution maps for the state of Tamil Nadu. Most taxa groups are very poorly studied and do not have a published checklist done in a few decades. As a part of this effort i support efforts like Asian Waterfowl Census and various faunal Census with Forest Department and other agencies and encourage citizen science activities. It started with informal efforts by creating state-level groups on Social media like Facebook and then harvest the data and now has moved to Citizen Science platforms like eBird, India Biodiversity Portal and iNaturalist. It still is nascent and has much room for growth in terms of public participation especially for non-charimatic taxa groups.