Shaping The Future - Trends And Perspectives In Indian Biodiversity Conservation And Sustainable Development.

Ms. Ghazala Shahabuddin

Ghazala's research interests lie at the cross-section of conservation science and policy. She has a PhD in Ecology and Conservation Biology from Duke University, USA (1998) for which she studied responses of butterflies to tropical forest fragmentation in Venezuela. Since then, her work has expanded to the policy arena including pioneering work on conservation-induced displacement, and community-based conservation in India . Her book Conservation at the Crossroads (Permanent Black, 2010), critically analyzes contemporary wildlife policy and implementation in India. She has also co-edited Nature in the New Economy ( Orient Blackswan, 2019) and Making Conservation Work (Permanent Black, 2007). Ghazala has been a Visiting Fellow with theNew India Foundation, University of Pennsylvania and National Centre for Biological Sciences for her work on conservation history of India. She worked as an Associate Professor at Dr. B.R. Ambedkar University in Delhi where she taught at the School of Human Ecology from 2009-2014. Since 2021, she has been a Visiting Professor to Ashoka University. Her current research is on long-term ecological change in Himalayan oak forests of Uttarakhand, and its implications for avifauna and forest regeneration.

Ms. Asmita Kabra

Ms. Asmita Kabra is an independent researcher with three decades of teaching experience in India’s public university system. Currently Associate Researcher at Centre de Sciences Humaines (CSH), Delhi, she served as a Professor at the School of Human Ecology at Ambedkar University Delhi from 2010 to 2024. Before that role, she taught for fifteen years in the undergraduate Department of Economics at Ramjas College, part of the University of Delhi, from 1995 to 2010.

Her research primarily focuses on the intersection of critical development studies and political ecology, exploring themes such as conservation and rural livelihoods, forced displacement, just transition, social impact assessment, agrarian change, and rural education.

Ms. Kabra is also a dedicated advocate for sustainable development. She is the founder and President of the NGO Adharshila and a founder trustee of the NGO Samrakshan Trust. Both organisations are committed to promoting sustainable and dignified livelihoods and education in the dryland forested areas of the Chambal region in Central India.In addition to her research and educational efforts, she served as the Managing Editor of the journal Ecology, Economy and Society-the INSEE Journal-from 2021 to 2023.

Mr. Jayant Kulkarni

Jayant Kulkarni is a dedicated conservationist and wildlife researcher with a robust educational background, holding a B.Tech and M.Tech in Chemical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay, and an M.Sc. in Forestry from IGNFA. He has been actively involved in wildlife conservation efforts since 1987 when he joined the Indian Forest Service. Currently, Jayant is the Director of Conservation at the Wildlife Research and Conservation Society. His work focuses on the conservation of private forests in the Western Ghats and the establishment of wildlife corridors to facilitate ecological balance.

He is particularly interested in sustainable management practices that ensure the coexistence of wildlife and local communities. Jayant has led numerous projects, including a conservation initiative for private forests in the Koyna-Chandoli Wildlife Corridor and an occupancy survey of tigers in the Satpura-Melghat Tiger Corridor. He is also involved in ongoing projects addressing human-elephant conflict, which are critical for promoting harmony between wildlife and local populations.

Through his advocacy and research, Mr. Kulkarni aims to develop management plans that effectively address ecological challenges and promote sustainable utilisation of natural habitats. His commitment to community stewardship and collaborative conservation strategies positions him as a leading figure in India's wildlife conservation field.

Dr. Pankaj Sekhsaria

Pankaj Sekhsaria is a long time member of the environmental group Kalpavriksh and is currently Associate Professor at the Centre for Technology Alternatives for Rural Areas (CTARA), IIT Bombay. His research interests lie at the intersection of science, environment, society and technology. He has written extensively on issues of the environment and wildlife with a special focus on the A&N Islands and protected areas in the country. His books on the islands include his debut novel 'The Last Wave', Islands in Flux – the Andaman and Nicobar Story (Harper Collins 2024), which is a collection of 25 years of his journalism about the islands, Waiting for Turtles (Kardi Tales 2021) – an illustrated story book and his first for children on turtle nesting in the Andamans and most recently The Great Nicobar Betrayal (Frontline 2024).

His recent works in the broad field of Sociology of Technology include Instrumental Lives - an intimate biography of an Indian laboratory, Nanoscale - Society's deep impact on science, technology and innovation in India and First Steps - Citizen Science in Ecology in India.

Ms. Meenal Tatpati

Meenal Tatpati is a lawyer-researcher with a keen interest in the jurisprudence and governance mechanisms of forests. Her earliest work has been with research and advocacy on the implementation of the Forests Rights Act and its interplay with other forest legislation, particularly its relevance in the governance and management of Protected Areas and during forest diversion. Some of the highlights of her work have been documenting the worldviews of the Dongria Kondh community in Odisha, India and the life stories of women of the Raika pastoralist community in Kumbhalgarh Wildlife Sanctuary. She has keenly been observing and writing on the development of legislation and schemes regarding carbon markets in India and their impact on local communities. She is a member of Kalpavriksh and is currently working as a research and policy associate with Women4Biodiversity where she is engaging with the Convention on Biological Diversity on gender considerations and the interlinkages between biodiversity and climate change policy. She is also a member of the IUCN World Commission on Protected Areas.

Dr. Nitin Rai

Nitin Rai is an independent scholar who studies the social and ecological impacts of tiger conservation practice in India. He has been conducting research in the Biligiri Rangaswamy Temple Tiger Reserve. He is interested in how conservation knowledge is produced and then deployed to dispossess local people. His work challenges current narratives that view nature as static and human presence in forests as being inimical to biodiversity. More recently he has been critically analysing conservationist’s efforts to economically value tiger reserves, estimate wildlife populations, and use technology for conservation surveillance and monitoring. Nitin combines political ecology research with advocacy to push for local governance of protected areas using the transformative potential of the Forest Rights Act.

Dr. Ashwini Chhatre

Ashwini Chhatre is an interdisciplinary scholar with research interests broadly centered on the dynamic cross-scale interactions between natural resource governance, economic development, and environmental conservation. He has published widely on institutional drivers of trade-offs and synergies between livelihoods, climate, and biodiversity in human-dominated landscapes, covering the entire spectrum from household-level to global analysis. Ashwini was the founding Editor-in-Chief of World Development Perspectives during 2016-19, and served as the Senior Editor of Conservation Letters during 2009-2014. He currently serves as the Executive Director of Bharti Institute of Public Policy at the Indian School of Business while serving on its faculty as an Associate Professor of Public Policy.

Neema Pathak Broome

Neema Pathak Broome, is a member of Kalpavriksh ( www.kalpavriksh.org ) and coordinates the Conservation and Livelihoods programme( https://kalpavriksh.org/our-work/conservation-livelihoods/ ). Her work focuses on decolonised and alternative forms of conservation through advocacy and onground support to Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities’s own efforts at strengthening their ecological socio-cultural practices, self determination including governance and management, traditional knowledge systems and ownership, access and use rights. She coordinates the global movement on Areas and Territories Conserved by Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities ( https://www.iccaconsortium.org/) in South Asia and is part of networks exploring the alternatives to the current unsustainable forms of development including the Global Working Group on Beyond Development ( https://beyonddevelopment.net/about-the-global-working-group-beyond-development/ ).

Arnab Bose

Conservationist Arnab Bose works in the field of conservation since 1993. He worked for the conservation of several endemic and critically endangered species like Golden Langur, White-bellied Heron, White-backed Vulture, Pygmy Hog, Gharial etc, involving local communities in Assam. He has been working in and around the Kakoijana Reserved Forest since 1995 for the conservation of Golden Langur and its habitat, involving seven communities from 34 villages. Arnab also teaches others, rural villagers included, regarding community conservation. He also helps villagers and assists Government officials with GIS mapping and consultancy for FRA implementation in several Districts of Assam.

He had served as General Secretary, Nature’s Foster (A Conservation Society has been working in Assam since 1991), for more than ten years voluntarily. Professionally managing a GIS Firm and presently pursuing conservation activity independently through community participation in 22 CCA’s among 34 villages around Kakoijana Reserved Forest, Bongaigaon, Assam.

Dr. Rajeshree Joshi

Dr. Rajashree Joshi is a Program Director, based at the Head Office of BAIF Development Research Foundation (www.baif.org.in).

BAIF is a reputed Indian NGO, committed to the cause of Sustainable Rural Development since past 5 decades.

Dr Joshi is a Social Scientist and an experienced development professional, having completed her Master’s degree from TISS Mumbai and PhD Degree in Economics from University of Pune. She has extensively worked on participatory, multi-disciplinary and multi sectoral development program models which are directly introduced in field and focusing on, Natural Resource Management, participatory agro biodiversity conservation and revival, innovative livelihood development models in tribal and rural areas, women and development interventions focusing on Women’s skilling, entrepreneurship , enterprise development and convergence of government schemes and Climate actions for resilience building of small land holders. She takes keen interest in food system’s transformation for achieving livelihoods and nutrition goals! Many of these programs are supported by corporates under CSR and by National and International organisations of repute Owing to her past 30 years of experience of working on need based, context specific rural development related issues in country, she has emerged as a good blend of academician and a practitioner.