Conservation awareness and environmental education to save tigers, elephants and other wildlife

The Problem

Local communities interact with forests every day, and some are heavily dependent on forests for daily needs and livelihoods, making conservation awareness important for them to understand the vital role of wildlife in nature. In landscapes like Cauvery and Malai Mahadeshwara (MM Hills) Wildlife Sanctuaries, awareness and education are important as a lack thereof can result in unintentional situations where both, the people and wildlife are harmed. Threats within this landscape include habitat loss and fragmentation, poaching, wild meat consumption, over-extraction of natural resources and vehicular collisions; issues that need to be communicated with the people to promote a better understanding and help foster positive attitudes towards conservation, wildlife and help reduce the influence of superstitions.

It is thus, imperative to bring a shift in people's perceptions to instill a sense of ownership and responsibility for their land and its preservation.

With students and children being the leaders of tomorrow who could potentially reshape the world, we need to maintain a sharp focus on imparting conservation awareness and wildlife education to ensure a holistic and sustained approach to conservation.

Our Approach

We’ll devise and deliver a variety of awareness and educational programmes to promote positive understanding towards wildlife conservation in the Cauvery - MM Hills landscape, while also acquainting them with the wildlife in these protected areas and their ecological roles.

We will use a combination of interactive methodologies such as street plays, visual imagery, videos, and games to engage students and teachers from schools and colleges in nearby villages. We’ll also engage with local leaders and communities, local media personnel, and Karnataka Forest Department staff.

Through Holematthi Nature Information Center, a result of our outreach initiatives established in 2018 in that landscape, we will:

1. Organise visits for school students to come and learn about the wildlife and conservation issues through games and interactive activities. 
2. Conduct street plays in the villages in and around the protected areas to communicate conservation issues to the villagers
3. Meet with local religious and political leaders to share updates regarding conservation activities in their area, and garner local support
4. Design and distribute relevant, local language wildlife guides, booklets, and awareness posters to groups visiting Holematthi, and to local leaders and villages to share with the masses.

Desired Impact

We’ll highlight the need to protect biodiversity, and the detrimental effects of fragmentation, indiscriminate development, poaching, consuming wild meat, fuelwood gathering, and more.

We aim to enhance nature and wildlife awareness among the communities living within these impact areas, with a strong focus on students and young adults to set into motion:

• The conditioning of a new generation of environmentally sensitive individuals that proactively support and participate in conservation activities, and are advocates of their landscape and rich heritage, 
• A community-based shift in actions from consuming wild meat regularly to discouraging poaching and wild meat consumption without the involvement of legal structures. Communities will be empowered to make well-informed sustainable and healthy choices for themselves and their surrounding forests,
• Increased public support and favour towards wildlife conservation, and important inputs to wildlife management plans that are landscape-relevant and inclusive of the need to be beneficial to both, the communities and wildlife, 
• Equip key local decision-makers, stakeholders and communities with the necessary knowledge to directly drive potential changes to policy and management plans, and
• Gently dispel superstitions and myths by opening the doors for sound knowledge resulting from a confluence of traditional knowledge and science.