Historically forest dwelling people have had good native knowledge of ecology and responsible behaviour towards their environments. However, modernization and exposure to urban influences have diminished this knowledge, especially among the younger generation.
We hope to revive this knowledge and the connection with their environment through appropriate “awareness” and “education” programmes. These programmes are run in collaboration with accredited agencies that have experience in environmental education.

This project aims at training a few youngsters in each village and training them on basic aspects of ecology and wildlife. We select youngsters with good aptitude for ecology and conservation. The aim is to make these youth the “eco-champions” for their communities, so that they can positively influence the behaviour of the community as a whole towards the environment. We expect these eco-champions to become “local conservationists” and lead the way for shifting the ownership for conservation from urban conservationists to local ones.

This project aims at training local youngsters in acting as nature trek and bird watching guides. This has a number of advantages. Firstly, they become responsible towards their ecology and wildlife heritage. Second, it creates employment opportunities for them with local resorts and the forest department. Last but not least, they become resources for the eco-tourism activities carried out by the local community.

• Experienced bird watchers and naturalists interested in volunteering for this training activity may contact us..

The child is the father of the man. Getting the children involved in fun-filled ecological activities is the best investment we can make for sustainable conservation. Towards this end, we have started eco-clubs for the village children who live close to wildlife areas. Activities include drawing competitions, animal mask making, basic ecological experiments, sapling planting, bird watching, seedball making, etc. Interestingly, most of these kids have seldom been inside a national park though they live close to one. So one of the main activities is periodic safaris in the Bandipur Tiger park.

• Sponsor a trip to a national park.