How can one extend the reach of conservation into landscapes outside protected areas? Conservationists around the world are now working to extend conservation to such landscapes, especially lands under productive agriculture and plantations, by linking production with the market for products certified as coming from farms that follow sustainable and ecologically-friendly practices.

Scattered fragments of tropical rainforest amidst vast monoculture plantations, a high density of people, and a host of endangered, endemic wildlife—this is the Valparai plateau of the Anamalai hills in Western Ghats biodiversity hotspot. Keeping in mind the fragile ecosystem, conflict between people and wildlife, and the need for broad-based conservation awareness, we spearheaded a conservation education programme, beginning in 2007.

The Nicobar Islands are biologically unique as they encompass a variety of ecosystems. Indigenous islanders extract natural resources using traditional systems of ownership and management. The overall aim of this project is to understand the influence of post-tsunami change on cooperative behaviour and sharing of natural resources amongst these indigenous communities, from the perspective of conservation and management of natural resources.

Wildlife population monitoring is an important component of a conservation program. In the Namdapha National Park, a major threat is hunting: therefore we have focused on establishing its impacts on wildlife populations. The species most affected by hunting –terrestrial mammals– were the target groups for monitoring. We aim to use this research to evaluate the progress of our community-based conservation initiatives: we expect that reduction in hunting will result in recovery of animal populations.

The five hornbill species that occur in Arunachal are greatly dependent on threatened primary forests. Hornbills are also important in local tribal heritage, however the market/ritual value of their feathers, beaks, and flesh renders them vulnerable to hunting. 

In this program, we are attempting to address conservation needs in the biodiversity hotspot of Arunachal Pradesh by focusing on ways of integrating indigenous people into a range of activities to monitor, value, and conserve wildlife and their habitats. We are presently working in the forests of Namdapha, and have also been monitoring hornbill populations in the Pakke Tiger Reserve.

The eastern Himalayan Arunachal Pradesh is India's biological frontier, where much remains to be explored and described.During our biological expeditions in the high altitudes of western Arunachal Pradesh, we stumbled upon an amazing diversity of life, including the Arunachal macaque, a monkey whose existence was thus far unknown to science.

Can a complex and biologically diverse forest, once destroyed by human action, ever be brought back to its original state? When forests are in a relatively undisturbed state, it is best to leave them as they are rather than disturb them in the belief that they can be brought back or restored. Nevertheless, there are forests already degraded or destroyed where there is a strong case for restoration efforts, like here in the Anamalai hills.