ECOLOGY AND LOCAL CULTURE

With a working panel of scientists and experts from different fields of plant and animal ecology, the Nature Conservation Foundation is a Mysore-based NGO, engaged in exploring, understanding, and conserving the natural world through research and responsible engagement with society.

- Divya Mudappa

Divya Mudappa, an ecologist, has been associated with the organization for more than two decades. While expanding her area of study, recently, she has co-authored two books, one on landmark trees of the Western Ghats and the other on some of the common invasive plant species in India.

Divya shares NCF's mandate, its working and related aspects of ecology and conservation.

Nature Conservation Foundation

Nature Conservation Foundation NCF started as a small organization to engage with science/evidence-based conservation. One of our main strengths has been to be embedded and engaged in landscapes of high conservation value in the long term. Another strength has been to use rigorous scientific research and long-term monitoring to understand the ecological and social dimensions of the systems we work in and the effectiveness of our conservation interventions. NCF functions in a federated way where a few senior scientists have chosen broad program areas that have a region, issue, or goal-based focus. We have tried to match individual expertise and motivations to nature conservation needs. The program heads (or scientists) along with their respective teams plan and implement their research, education, and/or conservation actions. These programs are quite widespread across India — the high Trans-Himalayan steppe in Himachal Pradesh and Ladakh, the sub-tropical forests and grasslands of the north-east Indian states, many projects along the Western Ghats, and in the islands and oceans around the Andaman-Nicobar and Lakshadweep archipelagos. The reason for this is because historically we all started our research work in these places and continued to understand both ecology and local cultures within these places. These are also places with either unique or very high diversity of wildlife or some of the most challenging conservation issues.