• Summary
  • Objectives
  • Status
  • Project Publications
Summary

The overall objective of this project is to sustain the conservation activities targeted towards endangered species and habitats across India’s biodiversity hotspots. Our work, be it reducing the harvest of critically endangered marine and freshwater species or enabling coexistence between the endangered Asian Elephant and people in the Western and Eastern Ghats, involves implementation of on-ground ecological and conservation action with local community participation. Presently, we work with 300 fishermen to promote “shark-friendly” fishing practices; we engage with 1000 farmer households in 10,000 sqkm of elephant habitat; and approximately 300 households along the Tuivang river, a tributary of the Chindwin River. Maintaining our field conservation activities during the first few months of the Covid-19 pandemic, during the economic downturn, proved crucial in preventing unregulated habitat destruction and over-harvest of species. Therefore, our continued presence at these sites is critical to establish these behavioural changes among communities for our conservation objectives to be fulfilled. This grant will ensure that we can continue to engage with local communities. Additionally, it will help us make progress with our field-based conservation initiatives across our field sites.

Objectives

1) Sustain field research activities
2) Sustain Awareness and Advocacy
3) Sustain field‐based conservation initiatives

Status

This project supported activities under four conservation‐oriented projects implemented by FERAL. In the terrestrial ecosystems, our work on the endangered Asian elephants was supported to enable their co‐existence with people. In the Western Ghats, our work focused on the critically important shola forests and grasslands, and in the Eastern Ghats of southern India, on the largest remaining scrub forest habitat. In the rivers of North East India, our work on endangered ray‐finned fishes was supported. This grant further supported out work In the marine system, under which our project worked towards the conservation of the guitar fish, hammerhead sharks and wedge fish, which are all declared Critically Endangered by IUCN and use nearshore and offshore waters across India.