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.