Heart of Conservation

The dugong is a Schedule 1 species in India, accorded the same protection as the Tiger but we barely know anything about it. My three amazing guests on episode#32 are researching Dugongs in three coastal pockets of India and doing a fantastic job as far as I can tell. I learnt a great deal about a mammal in my backyard which I was clueless about till now. Hope you enjoy listening to Prachi Sachchidanand Hatkar, Chinmaya Ghanekar and Swapnali Gole of their work with Dugongs as much as I did. Cover Dugong Photo Credits: Darius Quadros. Researchers photos courtesy Swapnali, Chinmaya and Prachi.

Transcript coming soon on Earthy matters (my blog). Radhika wears multiple hats as a coastal geographer, geospatial analyst, National Geographic Explorer. She is a Research Fellow at the NUS Centre for Nature-based Climate Solutions working with wetland conservation in Asia. She recently completed her PhD at the National University of Singapore. We discuss the world's largest delta in detail covering the mangrove species, the only tiger species that lives in a mangrove and which probably has to climb a tree twice a day during high tide; the adapatibility of species, a resilient community and the meaning of "maladaptation" a new word to add to our vocabulary.

My guest is already famous for his visually enticing maps but he is not a cartographer by profession. I am speaking to one of India's rising young, inspiring artist (NIFT) and author, Sudarshan Shaw whose keen sense of perception and belonging, passion for depicting, preserving local art, and love for natural history is tangible in his stunning artworks which goes way beyond creating maps. Thank you for joining me. Show notes/transcript will soon be available on my blog Earthy Matters. In the meanwhile do listen and share.

I speak with Ishita, a very brave and humble hero who happens to one of the pioneers of responsible tourism in a high himalayan desert called Spiti where she is the co-founder of Spiti-Ecosphere, a multi-award winning eco-tourism enterprise. Listen to what it takes to make toursim viable in a time when there were no proper roads to spiti (20 years ago to now) and how they face and overcome challenges post pandemic and succed at community based toursim in sureal Spiti.

The transcript for this episode will soon be available on my blog: EarthyMatters. My guest on this episode is passionate about True dung beetles so much so they were the topic of her PhD research. Three new species of dung beetles have been discovered and named by her. I'm speaking to Seena Narayanan, a Senior Research Associate & Assistant Museum Curator at ATREE. She has prepared species pages for the Scarabaeine dung beetles of the Indian subcontinent and she manages a growing insect collection at the ATREE Insect Museum- Bangalore.

In Part 2, I continue my conversation with Jayanthi Kallam, Executive Director of Avian and Reptile Rehabilitation Centre in Bangalore and part of her amazing team including Subeksha, Ranjana, Samiiha and Veerababu to find out what it takes to make a wildlife rehabilitation centre an efficient and successful one. Show notes for Part 1 & 2 are already up on my blog: Earthy Matters.

We may all have at some point in our lives have called an animal rescue centre. But how many of us know you know what goes after the animals is picked up? How many people does it take to look after an injured animal? What goes on behind the scenes? I'm speaking with the Executive Director of Avian and Reptile Rehabilitation Centre (ARRC), Jayanthi Kalam and the ARRC team in Bangalore to find out what makes a wildlife-rescue centre a professionally run enterprise. Listen to her explain the different goals and roles that are part of the wildlife rehabilitation process. I'm also speaking with a wildlife rescuer and a vet in this episode. Look out for Part 2 where I continue the conversation with Jayanthi and other core members of the team. You can read the show notes for Part 1 on my blog: Earthy Matters

It is not every day a yet-to-hatch cuttlefish looks straight at you through its thin egg membrane. The incredible photo ( on the podcast cover) is taken by Shaunak Modi. He tells us about his unique experiences on his journey of discovery as the co-founder of Coastal Conservation Foundation and a key member of the Marine Life of Mumbai. Listen to his amazing stories and find out how CCF in collaboration with other organizations is bringing the treasures of the sea to the people of Mumbai and taking citizen science to new shores and the minds of locals. You'll be surprised. The show notes for this episode will soon be available on my blog, Earthy Matters.

Show notes coming soon. I am speaking with Rajani Mani is a documentary filmmaker with Elephant Corridor Films, a Bengaluru based creative agency. Currently, she is working on "Colonies in Conflict" a film that examines the state of wild bees in a fast-developing Indian landscape.

Hi there, Thanks for listening. You can read the show notes of this episode on my blog Earthy matters and check out extra links provided by my guest. I am speaking to Yuvan Aves, a naturalist, educator, activist, musician and author. One of India's young influencers, Yuvan is currently documenting coastal stories, helping create tree laws, saving the biodiversity of sand dunes and water bodies apart from a host of other ecologically relevant issues.

Show notes coming soon with pics and links.:) Instagram Photo courtesy Ambika Yelanhanka. I am speaking to Ambika Yelahanka whose has a very enviable job involving lots of animals. Ambika's has a Masters in Zoo Conservation and a specialization in feline behaviour and reptilian husbandry. She's the Assistant curator at Madras Crocodile Bank Trust in Chennai. Find out what a day at the Madras Crocodile Bank Trust as Assistant Curator looks like. Ambika explains why enrichment is as important for reptiles as it is for carnivores and other animals. She also tells us why zoos play an important role in conservations and explains in detail about captive breeding. She also regales us with her experiences in the game parks of Africa and has interesting info about volunteering at the MCBT (Chennai) and sound advice for future zoologists.

As an ecologist, conservation researcher Vena Kapoor has worked on exploring if spiders can be used as natural pest control agents in the rainforest in Valparai in the Western Ghats. For a few years, she also managed the administrative and finance team in NCF's head office in Mysore. In 2010, Vena received Ravi Sankaran InlaksScholarship for the MPhil in Conservation Leadership at the University of Cambridge, UK. After the course, she worked with the Cambridge Conservation Initiative on strategizing and improving the collaborative potential of geographically co-located conservation organizations for more impactful conservation research and practice. Her current area of expertise and work is in developing a well-researched nature learning curriculum and outreach material for primary schools using education theory and pedagogical practices. She also conducts workshops, talks, and walks for adults and children to introduce them to the fascinating world of insects, spiders, and nature around them.

I’m speaking to three amazing women who work for Nature Conservation Foundation. They manage and coordianate 3 programmes: Bird Count India, Early Bird and Nature Classrooms.

Episode #21 is about the Thano forest in in the Doon valley Uttarakhand- the state where I live. Thano has been in the news lately because the Uttarakhand government has sought the National Wildlife Board's approval to transfer 243 acres of forest land to the Airports Authority of India. They want to expand the local existing Jolly Grant airport into an international airport. Listen to the facts from my 3 guests who are all prominent Doon citizens. Lokesh Ohri: Anthropologist, historian, writer and a cultural activist & founder of Been There Doon That. Abhijay Negi, is a young activist-lawyer, founder of MAD which stand for Making a difference. Both are active drivers of the #savethano movement. I am also speaking with Sanjay Sondhi, a well known naturalist, founder of Titli Trust and a community development and livelihoods expert. Photos courtesy: (Woodpecker included:Sanjay Sondhi), Lokesh Ohri and Abhijay Negi

In this last episode of Season Two of Heart of Conservation, I've put together the collective wisdom of 20+ people who were my guests so far. At the end of every episode, I ask my guests to share something that's significant to them - a word, an idea or their hopes. It's all here. Listen! The show notes will be available for you to read on earthymatters.blog soon. Season Three coming soon. Stay Safe. Keep Listening.

Truth be told, this is one of those interviews where I got more answers than I expected. As usual I learned a lot and am even more in awe of my guest William McKay Aitken (better known as Bill Aitken). He is a dear friend and hillside neighbour who I have long admired for his sense of adventure, his travel writing, his wit, and take on life.. Bill was born in Scotland, hitchhiked to India across Europe in the 1950s and stayed onto become a naturalized Indian citizen. Drawn by his love for Himalayan mountains and rivers and plateaus of India bill written extensively about them. He has authored over a dozen books including The Nanda Devi Affair and Seven Sacred Rivers Show notes for this podcast will be available soon on earthymatters.blog

Nina Gupta is an ecologist who lives in Auroville (India)and works around the globe as an independent consultant integrating biodiversity conservation and sustainable development options. . She has published a colouring book for adults, the first in India, on Edible Weeds. She takes us through the where, how, which and why of urban foraging and shares her experience of foraging, the weed walks she conducts and also tells us where you draw the line with foraging as well. You can also find her 'Edible weed walk' on YouTube channel. Show notes coming soon on https://earthymatters.blog/ You can check my other podcast stories there in the meanwhile. Cover Art work: Lalitha Krishnan. Photo and illustrations courtesy Nina Sengupta.

Rita is one of India's leading wildlife and environment filmmakers. In an in-depth interview, she speaks about her experience of filming wildlife over a career spanning over 20 years. She also highlights for us conservation issues regarding wildlife trade for example and speaks of her interactions with indigenous communities of the northeast, wildlife education programmes she initiated, including Green Hub - empowering youth with video-fellowships and more. She has recently been selected as an Ashoka Fellow (a lifelong fellowship for the world's leading social entrepreneurs. and was awarded the National Geographic – CMS Prithvi Ratna Award, and in 2018 the RBS Earth Hero Award for her contribution to the environment through films.

Hi, I'm Lalitha Krishnan. I ‘m speaking to Lisa Mills, program director at the Wildlife Conservation Enterprise Program at the University of Montana- Broader Impact Group. The University of Montana in partnership with The Wildlife Friendly Enterprise Network (WFEN), has released a science-based guide or standards for the certification of tea producers under the Certified Elephant Friendly™ Tea label. Lisa has been working to save the “globally endangered” Asian elephant for the past 10 years and is now facilitating ‘The Elephant Friendly Tea Certificate Program in northeast India. Listen to Lisa to understand some crucial issues: What is the connection between tea and elephants? How are the choices you make in the market making a difference? What are the reasons for elephant mortality in tea estates? How are man-animal conflicts resolved? Is there a future market for other wildlife-friendly products in India? Read the Show notes on https://earthymatters.blog/

Hi, I'm Lalitha Krishnan. My guest is Aditi Mukherji: Principal Researcher at the International Water Management Institute. She is the coordinating lead author of the water chapter of the Sixth Assessment Report (AR6) of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), which is to be published in 2021. In her previous job as the Theme Leader of the Water and Air theme at the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) in Nepal, she co-edited a report on the effects of climate change on the Hindu Kush Himalaya (HKH) region. This report that has woken the world to the possible reality that the Hindu Kush Himalayas could lose as much as 90% of its snow and ice by 2100 due to retreating glaciers, glacier-fed rivers, and carbon emissions. She has over 20years of experience working on policies and institutions of water resources management with a special focus on water-energy-food nexus. Photo courtest Aditi Mukerji. Cover Artwork: LalithaKrishnan

Bhavna Menon is the Programme Manager at the Last Wilderness Foundation, an NGO that has been working in three prominent tiger reserves of Madhya Pradesh in India. She has been working with LWF for the past nine years and is clearly passionate and convincingly articulate about why engaging with local communities, children and the forest department is a win-win to mitigate human-wildlife conflict and save the wilderness. Show notes coming soon on https://earthymatters.blog/ Photo courtesy: Bhavna Menon

Almitra Patel is an environmental policy advocate and anti-pollution activist. Her Public Interest Litigation in the Supreme Court against the open dumping of municipal solid waste was instrumental in the drafting of the Municipal Solid Waste Management Rule in India. Her clean up Indian campaign started 20+ long years long before it hit our billboards. Listen to her fascinating story. Show notes coming soon on earthymatters.blog. You can listen and read to other episodes on my blog.

SEASON TWO. For the first time, I'm interviewing an interesting young researcher-couple who are both experts in their fields. Pritha did her Ph.D. on the diversity patterns of the Geometridae family. Her doctoral work included the study of insect biodiversity loss due to anthropogenic disturbances in the western Indian Himalaya. My second guest is Pritha’s husband Rohit Chakravarty. He is a bat biologist currently pursuing a Ph.D. at the Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research, Berlin. Listen to some amazing facts and stories. Truly inspiring. For more info on bats write to rohit.chakravarty77@gmail.com. For more on moths, write to dey.pritha126@gmail.com Show notes coming soon on earthymatters.blog. #listennow

For a person who would normally rather communicate through his photographs, in his first podcast-recording, Dhritiman Mukherjee, one of India’s most sought after wildlife photographers, opens up and speaks at length about his own perspectives and the process of his photography. Always lobbying for wildlife, he helps us understand several issues based on his experiences and personal knowledge of over 20 years. Talking of tourism, he explains how it helps wildlife rather than harms. He tells us about some of his conservation efforts including the Narcondam hornbill, which is exclusive to the Narcondam island and other projects documenting the Bengal florican, the Himalayan snow-leopard, brown bears, western tragopan, etc. and why he is never 100% satisfied with his efforts. He speaks about his travels on the iconic 2018 Abhor expedition (last conducted 160 years ago) with five WII (Wildlife Institute of India) scientists into parts unknown in Arunachal Pradesh, where they discovered recorded and discovered several species. Briefly, we discuss equipment; he tells us why he isn’t fussy about equipment and what ‘ethics and responsibility’ means for him. He tells us why he has a problem with words like “favourite-species”, ‘proud”, “good” and “bad”, “success and failure” Dhritiman also share a word that he thinks is important to conservation. Listen now. Let me know what you think. Write to me at earthymatters013@gmail.com You can read the Show notes soon on my blog. Check out other episode show notes there in the meanwhile.

Otters are kept as pets. Can you imagine? They are a huge part of the illegal wildlife trade. I found out this and more at Wild Otters an otter-research based organization, tucked away in a corner of Chorao island in Goa. Listen to Ecologist and Director, Dr. Katrina Fernandez and Director and Chief of Communications, Kshitij Garg; Katrine Burford-Bradshaw and Shiri Lev and find out what they're doing to conserve the Smooth-coated otter, in its habitat. Listen on Spotify, apple podcasts, google podcast and android. Show notes for this episode on earthymatters.blog https://earthymatters.blog/2019/06/05/wild-otters-pvt-ltd-a-business-model-for-conservation-ep10/ Photo and otters sounds courtesy: WildOtters.

In episode # 9 of Heart ofConservation, I'm speaking with the young, talented Cara Tejpal. She describes herself as conservation generalist, who lends her skills to help confront the gamut of conservation challenges in India. She writes, fundraises, works on policy documents and develops campaigns under the umbrella of the Sanctuary Nature Foundation, while also heading their unique Mud on Boots Project. As an independent writer, her articles on wildlife have appeared in several publications. We speak of various conservation issues and concerns including saving the Great Indian Bustard. You can read the transcripts for all podcast episodes on https://earthymatters.blog/ Cover photo courtesy Cara Tejpal.

Sanjay Sondhi is responsible for discovering a new species - the Bompu Litter Frog. This frog discovered by Sanjay was previously unknown to science. Sanjay is as well known for his expertise on moths and butterflies and conducts workshops for the same. His nature column, Doon watch, in Hindustan Times and a column called Urban Nature Watch published in TERI's monthly magazine are both very popular reads. He has researched and authored an impressive number of field guides on butterflies, lizards, and amphibians, and is involved in conservation and livelihood projects in the western and eastern Himalaya.

Award-winning Ajay Rastogi, (Co-founder & Director of the Vrikshalaya Himalayan Centre, Uttarakhand, India) is an applied ethics practitioner, philosopher, and a yoga instructor. He tells why not just energy saving appliances but an almost 180-degree turnaround in attitude is crucial for saving the planet. He explains the science behind nature contemplation and why you don’t go into the forest with a checklist if you want to contemplate on nature. He tells us why he thinks the three principles of ‘dignity of physical work’, ‘interdependence’ and ‘interconnectivity’ are imperative for a smart, harmonious planet. He shows us by example us how village homestays are bringing out positive change both culturally and monetarily in a small corner of the Himalaya. Also, why the ‘Science of Happiness’ and the merging of the East with the latest neuroscience of the west are so popular. Ajay is a recipient of the South Asia Youth Leaders Award, European Union Erasmus Mundus Fellowship in Applied Ethics, and the Nehru-Fulbright Environmental Leadership Award for Contemplative Education.

Read Show Notes on earthymatters.blog Suniti is a consultant wildlife biologist, nature educator and author with multiple skills. He lives in Dehra Dun. I asked him why so many elephants are killed on the tracks in India. He tells us what it was like working under the legendary Papa John, Also, why it's crucial to create nature awareness and empathy among children. He speaks of his love for cycling and how he connects it with conservation. Suniti also speaks about the birding book he co-authored and throws some light on the famed Himalayan quail that was last spotted in the 1800s.

Read show notes on earthymatters.blog. Dr. Sejal Wohra recounts her journey as a woman conservationist through the years. She speaks frankly of the state of conservation in India, the fragility and challenges in the Himalayas and provides valuable insights on human-wildlife conflicts and other issues. She also shares some of her most unforgettable experiences around the world and of her pet project - the Jaberkhet Nature Reserve - that is changing lives.

You can read the whole show notes on earthymatters.blog. Dr. Dinesh speaks about the importance of treating injured adult turtles, the artificial flipper he created to enable physiotherapy to turtles and the impacts of pollution on sea life. He also tells us about the sea turtle species that get washed ashore, the dedication of volunteers, how creating awareness changed a community- where once they ran to kill wildlife they are now running to save.

Vijay Dhasmana, well-known rewilder of ‘IAmGurgaon’ fame, has been hugely instrumental and successful in rewilding around 400 acres of wasteland ravaged by mining. This site is part of the Aravalli range on the edge of a millennium city, Gurgaon, near New Delhi. Vijay explains what rewilding is all about. He speaks about the challenges his team faced over 9 years, the strategies they used, the use of native species, sourcing seeds, getting the community involved, the transformation and biodiversity of the park now and more.

Salvador Lyngdoh, Scientist-Wildlife Institute of India speaks about his work which focuses on conservation of large carnivores in the Indian Himalayas. He tells us why the two wolf species in India: the Himalayan wolf and the Indian/Plains wolf are unique in the wolf world. He delves into his experiences of radio-collaring wolves, the benefits of technology and explains in depth the conservation status of wolves in India, He shares his thoughts on the conservation of species in the environment of the Himalayan context and tells us why we should take our cues from wildlife ...and then more. You'll hear things about wolves you may never have heard before on this episode. Listen now.

Dr. Pasang Sherpa speaks about her work, her love and concern for her people, how Sherpas are stereotyped, climate change in the Everest region(which is home for her) and on being a woman researcher and her future plans.