KHOSHOO MEMORIAL AWARD FOR REBECCA PRADHAN

Noted naturalist Rebecca Pradhan was honoured with the T.N. Khoshoo Memorial Award for 2008. A function was organised at the India International Centre, New Delhi on 25th March 2008, where the award was presented to her.

The guest lecture was delivered by Dr. Ramachandra Guha, Author and Historian. The ceremony was presided over by Shri. Digvijay Singh, Senior politician. Other dignitaries present included Chancellor of JNU, Yash Pal and Secretary MoEF, Meena Gupta.

The award is given to honour one or more individuals in the field of conservation and sustainable development. It consists of a cash prize of Rs.50, 000/- to Rs.100, 000/- and a citation.

Rebecca is a true naturalist, working and writing about birds as easily as about plants. Starting her career as a school teacher in 1972, Rebecca moved on as the Head of the Herbarium and Forestry Research Library, Department of Forestry, Royal Government of Bhutan in 1985. Since 2000, she has worked as an Ecologist with the Royal Society for Protection of Nature (RSPN), Bhutan, where she is at present involved with the White-bellied Heron Project and in conducting biodiversity surveys of RSPN conservation areas. Over the years, Rebecca, has also been closely involved in a number of surveys to study and document the flora and fauna of Bhutan. She has written extensively about the biological richness of the north-eastern Himalayas, and particularly Bhutan.

VEMBANAD FISH COUNT

Volunteers involved in the Fish Count

The Vembanad estuarine system, the largest of its kind on the west coast of India has all the attributes of a tropical wetland, abundantly enriched with mangroves, water fowl habitats and diverse fishery resources. Considering these unique endowments, the Vembanad Lake has been declared as a 'Ramsar site' for conservation and management. Vembanad Lake is a highly productive environment, providing feeding, spawning and rearing areas for a very large number of commercial fish and shellfish.

However, the biodiversity of the Vembanad wetlands is alarmingly declining due to a variety of reasons such as sand mining & habitat destruction, loss of riparian canopy cover, encroachment, pollution hazards from agro-chemicals, pesticides, sewage and unethical fishing practices. Besides these, the greatest threat is the lack of awareness of the biodiversity value of the region.

In this context, ATREE in collaboration with the Regional Agricultural Research Station (RARS) organised a participatory fish census, the "Vembanad Fish Count-2008", on 30th May 2008, to inventorise the fish biodiversity. It was a participatory survey by trained teams of volunteers, including scientists, naturalists, students and interested people.

This event was intended to create mass awareness on the need for conservation of one of the most valuable common property resources, lakes, through more sensible management.

The event was co-sponsored by the National Bureau of Fish Genetic Resources, Regional Centre (CMFRI), Cochin and the State Biodiversity Board, Kerala.

BOOK LAUNCH: VANA SANJEEVANA

Vana Sanjeevana, a Teacher's Information and Activity Handbook in Kannada on the BRT Wildlife Sanctuary, published by Navakarnataka Publishers and authored by Sujata Padmanabhan, Sunita Rao and Yashodara Kundaji and translated into Kannada by Nagesh Hegde, was launched. This book is a joint effort by ATREE, Kalpavriksh and VGKK. The English version, 'Forests Alive!' was brought out as a CD a while ago.

NEW STAFF

Hetal Hariya has joined as Editorial Assistant for Conservation and Society in Eco Informatics. She has a Masters Degree in Zoology.

Madhura Niphadkar has joined as Senior Research Associate in the Centre for Eco-Informatics in Bangalore. She is a trained geographer and has a PG Diploma in Remote Sensing and GIS applications in forestry.
Dr.R.Prabhakar has been appointed as a Senior Fellow to take the lead in the development and implementation of the India Biodiversity Portal.

Rashmi R. Shet has joined as Human Resources Officer and is based at the Bangalore office. She has a B.Com. degree and is currently pursuing MBA (HR). She has undergone professional training in Human Resources from HR House.

Rayappa Garwad has joined as Assistant Manager - Accounts and is based at the Bangalore office. He has an M.Com degree.

Rohan D'Souza has joined as Communication Officer and is based at the Bangalore office. He has a Masters Degree in Personnel Management & Industrial Relations.

Sapna Bai. N has joined as Junior Research Fellow and is working on a DBT project, 'Development, Augmentation of Efficacy and Improvement of Dissemination Systems of Metarhizium based Mycoisecticide for the Management of Pests in Forest Plantations and Nurseries'. She has an M.Sc in Microbiology.

Smitha S.G has joined as Junior Research Fellow in the DST project, Investigations of Microsporidia affecting Major Lepidopteran Pests of Important Forest Trees of South India and their Prospect as Bio-Control Agent'. She has a Masters in Zoology with specialisation in Entomology.

Interns

Alok Tomar, who is a 3rd year student, B. Tech Civil Engineering is working on a project, 'Studies of Land Cover Change and Biodiversity in Bangalore.'

Elisabeth Gsottbauer, who is doing her double Masters degree in International Business and Economics as well as Political Science, is involved in a project, 'Fiscal Measures on Biodiversity Conversation. A Case for NTFP Cess.'

Lionel Sujay, who has completed BSc. in Environmental Sciences, is working on a project, 'Studies of Land Cover Change and Biodiversity in Bangalore.'

Madhumita.J, who completed her BSc. in Environmental Sciences, is working on a project, 'Studies of Land Cover Change and Biodiversity in Bangalore.'

Monika Kaushik, a graduate of the Masters programme at the Department of Environmental Biology, University of Delhi, is working on a study of avian frugivores on Lantana camara in BRT

Prakhar Arora, who is a 2nd year student in 5 year integrated MS Program, is working on a project, 'Studies of Land Cover Change and Biodiversity in Bangalore.'

Rashmi Menon, who is doing her Masters in Geo-Informatics, worked on a project, 'Layer Selection in Ecological Niche Modelling (ENM) - A Statistical Framework'.

Rashmi.M.K, who is doing her Masters in Environmental Science, worked on a project, 'Assessment and Modeling of Land Use Change of Kanakapura Region using GEOMOD'.

Sanchayeeta Adhikari, who is a PhD Scholar, is working on a project, 'Studies of Land Cover Change and Biodiversity in Bangalore.'

PhD Students

Somajita Paul, M.Sc. Geography, whose research interests include Urban landscapes, Urban heat island effects, Urban biodiversity, will be advised by Dr.Harini Nagendra.

Tintumol.K, M.Sc. Applied Zoology, whose research interests include Entomology, Insect diversity in Forest Canopy, will be advised by Dr. Priyadarsanan Dharma Rajan.

Arundhati Das, Masters in Environment Management, whose research interests include Biogeography, Landscape ecology, conservation planning & restoration ecology, will be advised by Dr. Kamal Bawa.

Paramesha.M, M.Sc.Botany, whose research interests include Ecological & sociological issues linked with biodiversity conservation, regeneration dynamics of vegetation types, habitat fragmentation, will be advised by Dr. R. Ganesan.

Sham Kashyap, M.S Agri Economics, whose research interests include Interdisciplinary research within the agricultural sector, rural communities, governance & policies & their impacts, will be advised by Dr. Gladwin Joseph and Dr. Seema Purushothaman.

Dhritiman Das, M.Sc. Zoology, whose research interests include Conservation Biology, Grassland Ecology, economic evaluation of biodiversity, sustainable development of livelihoods of people in the North east region of India, will be advised by Dr. Robert Chandran.

Anand Gazmer, M.Sc. Botany, whose research interests include Biodiversity Conservation in Eastern Himalayas, Traditional knowledge of Medicinal plants. will be advised by Dr. Kamal Bawa and Dr. Robert Chandran.

TALKS AT ATREE

ATREE Monthly Seminars

ATREE has initiated the Monthly ATREE Seminar (MAS), the purpose of which is to primarily foster internal communication between ATREE's scientific and conservation staff. Two MAS were held in the first half of the year 2008. These were:

Dr.Gladwin Joseph gave a talk on 'Contours of Managing Agri-systems in Forest-Agriculture Mosaics' on 28th January 2008.

Dr. Siddhartha.K gave a talk on 'Reconfiguring Biology's Role in the Resolution of Human-Wildlife Conflict: A Social Constructivist Critique' on 29th February 2008.

Other talks held

Fred Naggs, Molluscan Biodiversity Conservation Officer, Dept. of Zoology, Natural History Museum, London, gave a talk on 'Land snails as research tools in evolutionary biology' on 23rd January 2008.

Dan Brockington from the Institute for Development Policy and Management, School of Environment and Development, University of Manchester, United Kingdom and Visiting Fellow, ATREE, gave a talk on. 'The Work of Non-Governmental Organisations in African Wildlife Conservation' on 24th January 2008 and a talk on 'Powerful Environmentalisms. Celebrity, Conservation and Capitalism' on 14th March 2008.

Padma Shri Dr Anil P Joshi from the Himalayan Environmental Studies and Conservation Organization (HESCO), gave a talk on 'Integrating Indigenous Knowledge System: Cycle Yathra from Kanyakumari to Kashmir' on 25th January 2008.

Dr. Liana Joseph, Post Doctoral Fellow, The Ecology Centre, University of Queensland, Australia and Visiting Fellow, ATREE, gave a talk on 'Conservation planning: making good management decisions' on 29th January 2008.

'NiJel - Community Impact through Mapping', gave a presentation on their work and services, which involves mapping tools for organizations that seek social and environmental outcomes on 1st February 2008.

Wickramasinghe, Additional Secretary, Ministry of Environment & Forests, Sri Lanka, gave a talk on 'Forestry in Sri Lanka' on 20th February 2008. The talk was introduced by Dr. S.N. Rai, (Retd.) PCCF, Karnataka Forest Department and member, Executive Board, ATREE.

Dr. Thomas Cornulier, Post Doctorate, Mammal Research Institute, Bialowieza, Poland and collaborator, ATREE, gave a talk on 'Why should we make spatial models of species distribution spatially explicit' on 20th March 2008.

Dr. Klaus Reide, Senior Researcher, the Alexander Koenig Museum, Bonn and the University of Bonn, Germany, gave a talk on 'Halt of Biodiversity loss - can we reach the 2010 targets' on 4th April 2008.

Dr. John Kineman, Faculty, University of Colorado, gave a talk on 'Modeling Relations in Ecology: How should we represent organisms, ecosystems, and life in theory and informatics?' on 28th April 2008.

Dr. Shonil Bhagwat, Researcher at Oxford University Centre of Environment (OUCE), William L. Brown Fellows at Missouri Botanical Garden, Adjunct Fellow, ATREE, gave a talk on 'Agro forestry: A refuge for tropical biodiversity?' on 5th May 2008.

Sajid Pareeth, Masters in Photogrammetry and Geoinformatics, Stuttgart University, Germany, gave a talk on 'Open source Geospatial tools: An option for developing nations' on 12th May 2008.

Dr.R.Prabhakar, Sr.Fellow ATREE gave a talk on the India Biodiversity Portal: A Participatory Initiative on 13th June 2008 at ATREE.

PUBLICATIONS

Anand M.O, Krishnaswamy, J* and Das, A. 2008 Proximity to forests drives bird conservation value of shade-coffee plantations: Implications for certification. Ecological Applications *Corresponding author. (In Press)

Bali, A., A. Kumar, and J. Krishnaswamy. 2007. The mammalian communities in Coffee Plantations around a protected area in the Western Ghats, India. Biological Conservation 139:93-102.

B.T. Ramesha, T. Amna, Ravikanth. G, Rajesh Gunaga, R. Vasudeva, K.N.Ganeshaiah, R. Uma Shaanker, R. K.Khajuria, S.C. Puri, and G.N. Qazi.2008. Prospecting for camptothecins from Nothapodytes nimmoniana in the Western Ghats, south India: Identification of high yielding sources of camptothecin and new families of camptothecins. Journal of Chromatographic Science, 46:362-368

Gotor, E., A. Alercia, V. Ramanatha Rao, J. Watts and F. Caracciolo. 2008. The scientific information activity of Bioversity International: the descriptor lists Genet Resources and Crop Evolution - online publication. http://www.springerlink.com/content/67w4l97gg2n46u2m/?p=6ace9d893a3c4e19a3947f6372473816&pi=0

H. Nagendra and Y.Gokhale (2008). Management regimes, property rights, and forest biodiversity in Nepal and India. Environmental Management 41(5):719-733

H. Nagendra, S. Pareeth, B. Sharma, C.M.Schweik and K.R. Adhikari (2008). Forest fragmentation and regrowth in an Institutional mosaic of community, government and private ownership in Nepal. Landscape Ecology 23:41-54

Joseph G. Carter, Trent Mcdowell and Naveen Namboodiri. 2008. The Identity Of Gastrochaena cuneiformis Spengler, 1783, And The Evolution Of Gastrochaena, Rocellaria, And Lamychaena (Mollusca, Bivalvia, Gastrochaenoidea) Journal of Palaentology, 82(1): 102-117

Krishna Chaitanya, Krishnaswamy, J and N. Samba Kumar. 2008. Habitat factors affecting four horned antelope site occupancy and relative abundance in India. Journal of Zoology. 1-8.

Nibedita Mukherjee, Naveen Namboodiri, Sudarshan Rodriguez, Aarthi Sridhar and Kartik Shanker, 'Coastlines - Engineering solutions and coastal ecosystems', The Hindu Survey of the Environment, June 2008

Pai, R., A.J. Hiremath and U. Kant. Eds. (2008). Rethinking Forest Fires. Proceedings of the National Workshop on Forest Fires. November 13-14, 2007, New Delhi. Ministry of Environment and Forests, Government of India. Available online at

http://www.atree.org/proceeds_fw_08.pdf Rodriguez, S. 2008. A Mockery of Science, Conservation and Environmental Laws, The Hindu, 9nth May 2008. (Op-ed piece)

Rodriguez, S. 2008, Road to Perdition, Tehelka Magazine, Vol 5, Issue 8, Dated March 01, 2008.

Rodriguez S., 2008, Push Out Fisherfolk, Make Room for Water Sports?, Tehelka Magazine, Vol 5, Issue 5, Dated Feb 9, 2008.

R. Uma Shaanker, B.T. Ramesha, Ravikanth.G, R. Gunaga, R. Vasudeva and K.N. Ganeshaiah, 2008. Chemical Profiling of Nothapodytes nimmoniana for Camptothecin, an Important Anticancer Alkaloid: Toward the Development of a Sustainable Production System. Pp 197-213. Bioactive Molecules and Medicinal Plants. Ramawat KG, Merillon JM (eds.) Springer Publishing, UK

Sharma, M. V., Kuriakose, G. and Shivanna, K. R (2008) Reproductive strategies of Strobilanthes kunthianus, an endemic, semelparous species in southern Western Ghats, India. Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society, 157, 155-163

Sok-Young Lee, Wan Kah Fai, Myriana Zakaria, Halijah Ibrahim, Rofina Yasmin Othman, Jae-Gyun Gwag, V. Ramanatha Rao and Yong-Jin Park (2007), Characterization of polymorphic microsatellite markers, isolated from Ginger (Zingiber officinale Rosc.) Molecular Ecology Notes 5 (4), 736 738

Vishal K. Mehta, Patrick J. Sullivan, M. Todd Walter, Jagdish Krishnaswamy, Stephen D. DeGloria, Ecosystem impacts of disturbance in a dry tropical forest in southern India, Ecohydrology, Volume 1 Issue 2 (2008), (p 149-160)

Vishal K. Mehta, Patrick J. Sullivan, M. Todd Walter, Jagdish Krishnaswamy, Stephen D. DeGloria, Impacts of disturbance on soil properties in a dry tropical forest in Southern India , Ecohydrology, Volume 1 Issue 2 (2008), (p 161-175)

WORKSHOPS ORGANISED

ATREE organised an internal workshop on Conservation Education 11th March, 2008. The workshop had an external resource person, Anitha Sharma, who is an independent Environmental Educator. She made a presentation on 'How Children Perceive the Environment', followed by a discussion. The participants spoke about how best to consolidate ATREE's own participative assessment of conservation education potential, in the 5 CCC sites and arrived at a plan with collective inputs.

ATREE, the University of Freiburg, Germany, and the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR), Indonesia organized a brainstorming workshop to kick-off their collaboration on "Forest Fire Management in India: Integrating Ecological and Cultural Contexts and Consequences" from April 3-5, 2008, in New Delhi. The workshop was attended by project partners from the Foundation for Ecological Security, the French Institute, CHIRAG, and the Global Fire Monitoring Center. The workshop also included a half-day consultation with forest officials and was attended by Mrs. Rekha Pai, DIG - Forest Protection Division, Ministry of Environment and Forest, and Mr. Chandan Mitra, CCF-Vigilance, Andhra Pradesh Forest Department. Issues discussed include the need for good information on fires, and the need for more holistic assessment of the impacts of fire. The discussion also touched on the success of participatory approaches towards fire management and control

ATREE organised a vacation training program on 'Bioresources' for students who completed their Xth std. exams, from 12th May to 31st May 2008, at the University of Agricultural Science Campus School, Hebbal, Bangalore. Twenty four students from eighteen different schools attended the program. The course consisted of lectures by eminent scientists and experts from various fields. Visit to a research institutes, lecture related activities, screening of films on ecological issues, field trips and activities were the highlights of the course.

Field Trip in 'Bioresources' vacation program

CISED and ATREE jointly organized a workshop on the Scheduled Tribes and Other Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006 on the 1st February 2008 in Bangalore.

Seema Purushottaman organised a workshop on behalf of ATREE on 'Policy Forum: Sustaining Small Scale Agriculture in Karnataka' in February 2008 at NIAS, Bangalore.







WORKSHOPS ATTENDED

Bharath Sundaram, Chethana.H.C, Manju Vasudevan and Ravikanth.G attended the Annual Association for Tropical Biology and Conservation- Asia-Pacific Chapter conference, held at Kuching, Malaysia between 23rd and 26th April 2008, organized by Association of tropical Biology and Conservation, Sarawak Forestry and The Japanese society of Tropical Ecology.

Bharath Sundaram made an oral presentation titled "Soil seed banks, fire, and the persistence of lantana in a South Indian forest", co-authored with Ankila Hiremath.

Chetana H.C made an oral presentation titled "Does Forest Degradation and Fragmentation Affect Pre-dispersal Fruit Predation of a Keystone Tree species in the Wet Evergreen Forest in Western Ghats, India?"

Manju Vasudevan presented a talk on "Threat Assessment of a vanishing habitat- the Myristica swamps of Western Ghats".

Ravikanth. G presented a paper on "Do protected areas help maintain genetic diversity of economically important plants". As part of the conference, Bharath Sundaram and Chetana H.C attended a one-week course in Scientific Writing and Presentation, as well as Statistics. Manju Vasudevan did teaching assistantship with Dr Jason Tylianakis, University of Canterbury, New Zealand for the Statistics course.

C. Madegowda presented a poster titled 'The role of Soliga traditional knowledge and cultural ecology in biodiversity conservation in Biligiri Rangaswamy Temple Wildlife Sanctuary, India' at a conference on Sustaining Cultural and Biological Diversity in a Rapidly Changing World: Lessons for Global Policy organized by the American Museum of Natural History, New York in April 2008.

Kalpana Prasanna presented a paper on "Adoption of Destitutes on the Margins of Society - A Case Study from Urban India" at an international conference on "Social Development, Social Movements and the Marginalised Perspectives and Concerns", held between 16th and 19th February 2008 at New Delhi, hosted and organised by IGNOU.

Ganesan.R and Paramesha.M attended a National Symposium on 'Plant Resources of India: Linking Conservation, Livelihood and Culture' from 14th -15th March 2008 held at Sringeri, organized by Sri JCBM College, Sringeri, Karnataka and sponsored by the Dept. of Biotechnology.

Ganesan.R made a presentation of a paper,'Vegetation Types and NonTimber Forest Produces in Dry Forests on the Eastern Slopes of Southern Western Ghats', prepared by Kottai Muthu, R., Ganesan,V., Ganesan, R. & Ganeshaiah, K.N.

Paramesha.M made a presentation of the paper,"Amla Fruit-Frugivore Interaction and Bioresource Conservation in Biligiri Rangaswamy Temple Wildlife Sanctuary (BRT), Karnataka", prepared by Paramesha, M., Ganesh,T., Ticktin,T. & R.Ganesan.

Maya Rajashekharan and Niraj Kakati attended a workshop, 'Selling to Corporates - A Workshop for Fund Raisers' organised by CAF, UK in Bangalore on 4th April 2008.

Nibedita Mukherjee presented a poster in the National Mangrove Workshop at Indian Wood Science Technology (IWST), Bangalore, which was held between 7th - 8th February, 2008.

Nitin Rai presented a paper titled 'Constructing landscapes: Ecology, culture, and history of an Indian Forest' at 'Sustaining Cultural and Biological Diversity in a Rapidly Changing World: Lessons for Global Policy', a conference organized by the American Museum of Natural History, New York in April 2008.

Ramanatha Rao attended a Joint FAO/ICRISAT Technical Expert Meeting on "Climate Change and its Effect on Conservation and Use of Plant Genetic Resources and associated Biodiversity for Food Security" in Patancheru, between 28-30 April 2008, as an invited expert.

Ravi Chellam, Nitin Rai, Seema Mundoli and Sushmita Mandal attended a workshop on "Critical Tiger Habitats and Critical Wildlife Habitats" on 8th -9th May, 2008, held at Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, organised by Centre for Ecological Sciences, IISc, Karnataka Forest Department and Future of Conservation Network.

Samuel Thomas, Arjun Rai, Rajen Chettri, Nishat Rehman and Anand Gazmer presented a photo exhibition on 'Perennial Springs of Darjeeling: an undervalued lifeline' at the World Environment Day celebrations on 'Water and Waste Management' from 5-10 June 2008, organized by the Darjeeling NGO Network and Darjeeling Municipality at Capital Hall, Darjeeling.

Seema Purushottaman made a presentation on 'Agricultural land use and socio ecological issues in Karnataka' in February 2008 at CIRAD, Montpellier.

Seema Purushottaman gave a talk on 'Investing in Social and natural capital for poverty reduction' on 25th April, 2008 at SUM, University of Oslo.

Seema Purushottaman participated in a workshop on 'Production Forestry in Climate Change Mitigation in India' in January 2008, organised by BHC at Jaipur, Rajasthan).

Seema Purushottaman participated in a workshop on 'Impact Assessment of Land Use Change' in April 2008 at Humbolt University, Berlin.

Seema Purushottaman participated in Resilience 2008 in April 2008 at Stockholm.

Suman Rai and Samuel Thomas participated in the CEPF Regional Planning Workshop in Kathmandu on 25th January 2008, organized by the CEPF Regional Implementation Team, WWF, Kathmandu.

Sushmita Mandal participated in a workshop on 'Balancing Conservation and Livelihood in Protected Area (PA) Context' in Bhubaneswar on 18th and 19th March, 2008, organized by the Foundation for Ecological Security, Orissa team. She presented ATREE's work in BRT as part of the Conservation & Livelihoods Programme.

VISITORS

Faith Inman, HIPPNET Supervisor, University of Hawaii, visited ATREE on 7th January 2008. She interacted with ATREE staff on the project of setting up permanent forest plots in Hawaii that she is involved in.

Dr. Bryan Heidorn from the JRS Bio-Diversity Foundation, U.S, visited ATREE from 5-6th May 2008 to review progress of the project JRS is funding. He also gave a talk on 'Dark Data in the Long Tail of Bio Diversity Informatics.'

Dr. Anoma Periera, Senior Lecturer at the Department of Botany, University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka visited ATREE on 26th February 2008. The purpose of her visit was to gain and share experience in tropical forest ecology, common to Sri Lanka and India and explore possibilities for developing inter-institutional relationships. Dr.Periera gave a lecture at ATREE based on her research experiences in dry evergreen forests located in Dry Zone Forests of Sri Lanka.

A group of exchange students from Norway, associated with Christ College, Bangalore, paid an orientation visit to ATREE on 27th February 2008. Robert Chandran hosted the students, introducing them to ATREE, briefing them about its educational activities and offering a general overview about the environmental situation in India.

VISITNG FELLOWS

Dr. Daniel Brockington, Senior Lecturer at the Institute for Development Policy and Management, University of Manchester, visited ATREE. His research interests include the social impacts of protected areas, the nature, causes and consequences of environmental change and the dynamics of local resource management. The geographical focus of his work has been on rural East Africa, particularly Tanzania and Zimbabwe, and also India. Dan is the author of the much acclaimed book 'Fortress Conservation: The Preservation of the Mkomazi Game Reserve' and is also the co-author of the article 'Eviction for Conservation: A Global Overview'.

GRANTS RECEIVED

ATREE received a grant from BMZ for Forest fire management in India: integrating ecological and cultural contexts and consequences.

ATREE received a grant from Sri Lankan government for "Eco-development and HEC management" for junior staff of Department of Wildlife Conservation, Sri Lanka, to be implemented in Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Kerala.

ATREE received a grant from CEPF for Regional Implementation Strategy in the Western Ghats.

ATREE received a grant from MOTA for setting up of New Project, "Vocational Training Centre for 100 Scheduled Tribe students"

ATREE received a grant from CES-Human Wildlife Conflict Indo-Norwegian Project towards Implementation of the sub-projects taken up by ATREE, within the purview of Indo-Norwegian project on wild-life human conflicts.

ATREE received a grant from National Medicinal Plants Board - NMPB (Ministry of Health & Family Welfare Dept of AYUSH) to evaluate the effectiveness of MPCA as in situ conservation sites for medicinal plants.

ATREE received a grant from M.S.Swaminathan Research Foundation towards the establishment of DNA Club as well as conducting one vacation training Programme.

ATREE received a grant from DST for assessing the distribution and threats to freshwater molluse fauna of the Western Ghats.

ATREE received a grant from JTT towards activities of the Academy for Conservation Science and Sustainability Studies.

ATREE received a grant from BIAL for 'Wild Life Hazard Assessment of Bengaluru International Airport.'

T.Ganesh received a grant from National Geographic Conservation Trust Grant for a project on 'Forests owls and Ecosystem services: Raising awareness and Value of Nature conservation in Forest Fringe Village Communities in South India.

T.Ganesh received a grant from Natural Research Ltd UK for a project, 'Foraging Ecology of Wintering Pallid Harriers (Circus macrourus) in India.'

RECOGNITIONS

Jagdish Krishnaswamy was invited as a visiting Scientist to the Department of Systems Ecology and the Stockholm Resilience Centre (SRC), University of Stockholm, in March-May, 2008. He gave two seminar talks in Stockholm, taught a short course in use of R in Spatial Analyses in Madagascar and took a week long course in Spatial Statistics in Ecology at the SRC. He contributed to joint proposals and research between SRC and ATREE, in mapping of ecosystem services

Manju Vasudevan was awarded the Wingate Scholarship from the Harold Hyam Wingate Foundation, UK to pursue her PhD at Imperial College London.

Nibedita Mukherjee received an Inlaks Scholarship, 2008 to pursue her doctoral research in Vrije Universitet, Brussels, Belgium.

Ramanatha Rao was selected as a Member of the 2010 BIP Scientific Advisory Body (SAB) of the 2010 Biodiversity Indicator Partnership of the UNEP and World Conservation Monitoring Centre.

Ramanatha Rao was invited and accepted to be a member of the Crop Wild Relatives Working Group as well as the Species Survival Commission of the IUCN.

Ramanatha Rao was made as a member of Research Advisory Committee (RAC) of NBPGR, New Delhi.

Sunita Rao received the Essel Award on behalf of Vanastree, for Social Service on 19th April, 2008. The award was given for setting up Vanastree, Malnad Forest Garden and Seed Keepers' Collective and working on forest home gardens and local seed conservation work in the Malnad region of the Western Ghats.

Sunita Rao has been awarded a Fulbright Fellowship to go to the US from March to June 2009, to look at the Challenges of Community Supported Agriculture and Native Seed Conservation.