The Western Ghats

Identify strategies that would enable farmers to conserve native trees within privately owned coffee estates in Kodagu that harbor a high diversity of tree species, even though economic and legal constraints are driving farmers to reduce native tree cover. Other project outcomes include production of scientific articles and development of linkages between stakeholders

The objective of the proposed initiative is to establish a collaborative information system that will aggregate and integrate an array of biodiversity knowledge available with several entities and make this information publicly available on the Creative Commons licenses. All CEPF Grantees will be encouraged to publish their studies on the Portal. Further, the portal will allow large-scale participation and build a community of stakeholders for the conservation of the Western Ghats.

Channel local interest in the biodiversity of the Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve toward addressing conservation issues through establishing a Nilgiris Natural History Society, implementing activities through the society with direct conservation benefits to local communities (including conservation awards, protection of sacred groves, nature interpretation sites and conservation villages) and developing a hub for outreach, training and extension in biodiversity conservation

Envisages involving local ethnic communities in participatory conservation and monitoring of key biodiversity and important forest resources in the target areas, Anamalai (primitive Kadar and Malaya tribe) and Dandeli (Kunbi), guided by the experience from an earlier grant based in Vazhachal, whose activities will be sustained and expanded. The tribals will be empowered to monitor resources such as major NTFP trees, hornbill nesting trees, many endangered and endemic species.

Quantify and characterize spatial variation in bat communities, and develop echo-location call libraries for bats in priority conservation areas in the Western Ghats. The work will contribute to an enhanced recognition of the biological value of this unstudied taxonomic group, and evaluate the efficacy of the current protected area network for bat conservation in the region

Increasing tourism in the Anamalai hills have resulted in the death of endangered fauna such as Lion-tailed macaque, leopard cat, slender loris, and several other birds, endemic reptiles and amphibians by the fast plying vehicles. This study is designed to identify mitigation measures and implement them to reduce the road mortality of these species, besides contributing to the knowledge on the effects of traffic and road construction on forest animal movements.

Demonstrate a market-based approach to enhancing ecological connectivity while safeguarding agricultural production by introducing the Rainforest Alliance’s "Sustainable Agriculture Standard" into tea and coffee estates in the Anamalai and Mysore-Nilgiri corridors, raising awareness and promoting adoption of sustainable agricultural practices, and developing a set of local indicators that adapts the Sustainable Agriculture Standard to the context of the Western Ghats

Shola habitat on any large sky island is fragmented and disconnected by the formation of commercial plantations almost a century ago. This production landscape now hosts remnant forest patches that are reported to harbour many threatened, endemic birds. We propose to investigate how species use such patches and provide species lists to private land-holders to increase awareness and value of their landscape http://www.skyisland.in/Song.html