Education & Outreach
2024-Present
ERA - Education and Capacity Building
Adavi Trust joins the Ecological Restoration Alliance (ERA) for three years to lead the Education and Capacity Building Desk. This partnership strengthens our focus on Education and Outreach, with a primary emphasis on Pedagogy and Practice in Restoration.
The project aims to enhance socio-ecological training nationwide for sustainable long-term restoration efforts. It will establish a transdisciplinary education platform addressing all aspects of restoration, fostering solutions to complex ecosystem challenges.
Within ERA, this initiative will serve as a comprehensive knowledge hub offering curriculum resources and guidance on restoration principles and practices across the country.
2018
Snakebite mitigation
In 2018, Adavi’s commitment to conservation education remained ongoing, particularly in mitigating snakebite incidents. Financial support from the Madras Crocodile Bank Trust facilitated engaging interactions with 1711 children, youth, farmers, and community members. Adavi Trust focused on imparting basic understanding of snakes, snakebite prevention, and first aid practices through dynamic activities, games, and video screenings.
2016 - 2017
“Randi Rabandulanu Rakshistham!” - Come let us save the vultures
Vulture populations in India have sharply declined due to human activities, impacting their conservation, particularly in densely populated areas like Anantapur district, Andhra Pradesh, historically home to both vultures and wolves.
Our interviews gauged local perceptions of these species. There were significant knowledge gaps about their status and ecology. While most respondents saw conservation as the government's responsibility, 38% of youth believed local communities should lead initiatives. Vultures were favored over wolves, with 58% indifferent and 5% opposed to conservation efforts.
The study shows 85% of respondents were interested in learning more about these species, suggesting potential for conservation education to foster positive attitudes among communities.
2015 - 2018
Wolf Walks
An estimated 2,500 Indian Wolves (Canis lupus pallipes) remain in the wild in India and most of them outside traditional ‘protected areas’. The majority are in village common lands and ‘reserved forest’. The population is rapidly declining due to the pressures of habitat loss, retaliatory killings and a declining wild prey base. Adavi Trust’s flagship project ‘Wolf Walks’ is an attempt to address this critical conservation issue through community engagement, ecotourism and conservation outreach. The project looks to achieve a reduction in retaliatory killing of wolves as economic benefits from ecotourism and insurance cover the cost of livestock lost. The project protects wolf and blackbuck breeding grounds and impacts the wolf metapopulation of Southern India while benefiting the rural communities on whose land and livestock the wolves depend.
Community-led conservation
2014 - 2020
The Kalpavalli Community Conservation Area
We collaborated with the Timbaktu Collective on community-led conservation efforts in the Kalpavalli Community Conservation Area (KCCA), a 9,000-acre non-contiguous savannah grassland restored and protected for nearly three decades through their ecology program. Adavi provides technical support, training in data collection and research methodologies, and builds capacity and awareness among KCCA members. Emphasizing community stakeholder interests, the project employs co-management strategies, research initiatives, and market-based tools like the Kalpavalli Bush Camp to enhance conservation efforts.
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The KCCA hosts diverse fauna, including 131 bird species, 24 mammals,
34 herpetofauna, 25 fish, and 164 arthropods. Twenty-seven species are listed under Schedule 1 of the Indian Wildlife Protection Act, 1972, while 16 species are classified as 'Endangered', 'Near Threatened', or 'Vulnerable' according to the IUCN Red List. Mammals (20.8%) face the greatest threats, followed by fish (12%), herpetofauna (5.8%), and birds (3.8%). Various terrestrial and aquatic habitat threats are acknowledged and actively addressed by the Timbaktu Collective and Kalpavalli Tree Growers Cooperative Society. We recommend closely monitoring aquatic colonizations resulting from newly constructed irrigation canals under the Handri Neeva Sijala Sravanthi project to manage aquaculture and invasive species, thereby safeguarding native fish populations from local extirpation.
Research & knowledge-sharing
2015 - Present
Eethavanam - A Savvanah Grasslands Field Station
Eethavanam Field Station The word `eetha’ in Telugu refers to the date palm, phoenix sylvestris and vanam is forest. Eethavanam refers to a ‘forest’ of date palm. Eethavanam is a homestead and an agro forest habitat that is home to hundreds of species of wild flora and fauna. It is a 100% off grid microhabitat with living spaces made of locally sourced natural material (thatch grass, granite slabs, date palm fronds, bamboo, wild harvested dodonia, reclaimed silk worm rearing mats) minimal solar power (the solar supports basic lighting and charging of a few electronics), a hand pump for water use and dry toilets.
Eethavanam is also arguably one of India’s first Permaculture Farms. This ongoing project is an experiment in environmentally conscious living, creating an oasis for wildlife, supporting agro ecological farming and natural regeneration and restoration systems with rock filled dams, watering holes, foraging sites, burrow protection, natural fences and propagation of wild flora species.
2017
Gundla Brahmeswaram Wildlife Sanctuary, Andhra Pradesh
The Eastern Ghats of India are a stunning and unique ecosystem. The Eastern Ghats is a discontinuous range of mountains along India's eastern coast. The mountain ranges run parallel to the Bay of Bengal and The Deccan Plateau lies to the west of the range. Adavi carried out an Ecological Assessment of the Gundla Brahmeswaram WLS in collaboration with the Andhra Pradesh Forest Department. The Gundla Brahmeswaram WLS is located in the southern Eastern Ghats and part of the Nallamalai hill ranges, in Kurnool AP. The primary objective of the study was to assess the ecological significance of the GBM sanctuary in particular reference to wild canids leading up to further research and conservation work within the Eastern Ghats landscape.
2015
Biodiversity Assessment
In October 2015, Adavi Trust undertook an effort to document vegetation communities and distribution in the Kalpavalli Conservation Area. Collaborating with the Kalpavalli team and the National Centre for Biological Sciences, the surveys resulted in a preliminary report identifying nearly three hundred species of trees, herbs, shrubs, grasses, and climbers, showcasing the organization's dedication to comprehensive biodiversity documentation.
Agrobiodiversity
2016 - Present
Indigenous Plant Nursery and Seed Bank
Our savannah ecosystems are under siege, threatened by rapid habitat destruction and biodiversity loss. Endemic florae are critical for creating microhabitats and retaining genetic, ecosystem and species diversity. This project is an on-going effort to save wild seeds and propagate them in community-conserved areas as well as farmlands. It is an experiment in savannah ecosystem restoration by creating micro habitats and exclusion zones to safeguard against ungulate herbivory.
We restore areas to ensure host plants for pollinators, foraging plants for birds and also grow species that help with soil retention. Additionally, we focus on wild edibles that play a critical role in fortifying nutritional sovereignty and Traditional Ecological Knowledge. Flame of the Forest (Butea monosperma), Dyers Oleander (Wrightia tinctoria), Phoenix date palm (Phoenix sylvestris), Anjan (Hardwickia binata), Ceropegia juncea and Abrus precatorius are just a few of the plants we are propagating.
2015 - Present
Deccan Savannah Diaries
This project works towards creating a holistic approach to landscape ecology that takes into account biodiversity centric farming, environmental sustainability and climate resilience. In addition, the project also documents traditional foods and recipes to map out the critical links and impacts they have on farming cultures, fragile ecosystems and nutritional sovereignty.
2014 - Present
Wild flora and Traditional Ecological Knowledge
With the onset of new farming methods in the region, the impact on nutritional sovereignty has been quite severe. TEK always addressed a community’s requirements from the natural world with a deep understanding of ecology. This project works on documenting wild flora and the roles they have played in TEK while also propagating these species. With climate change impacting lives and livelihoods across the world, the role of TEK is more critical than ever in providing stability, adaptability and resilience to create truly holistic sustainable food systems.
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