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Located at the Biligiri Rangaswamy Temple (BRT) Tiger Reserve, the Community Conservation Centre (CCC) has worked with the Soliga community for over 30 years, focusing on livelihood enrichment and the protection of community rights. The centre emphasises long-term monitoring of species, landscape and forest produce. It also promotes agroforestry and other conservation interventions to maintain ecosystem health.
The BRT Community Conservation Centre is a ‘local space’ through which vital initiatives are executed to enrich livelihoods, protect community rights and assess important species.
A key initiative includes promoting biodiversity-friendly small-holder coffee business. We developed a coffee-based business of the Sri Biligiri Rangaswamy Kapi Belegarara Sangha (Soliga coffee farmers), in collaboration with the Karnataka Coffee Board and Black Baza Coffee Company Ltd, Bangalore. It has benefited several Soliga families. ATREE’s efforts encourage organic farming techniques to reduce the impact on biodiversity of the landscape.
The objective is to organise traditional industries and artisans into clusters for long term sustainability and to enable competitive and sustained employment. Training, safety equipment and a common facility centre built with scientific processing machinery help to develop and improve honey harvesting and processing. The processed honey is being sold under the brand ‘Adavi’.
ATREE implemented decentralised enterprise-based conservation models with respect to Non-timber forest products and agricultural products that led to additional income generation for the indigenous community. Also, community decentralised processing units were established in 2022.
ATREE aims to establish connectivity between fragmented habitats through wildlife corridors. The Western Ghats is under intense pressure from hydropower projects, mining, roads, railways and population growth. The existing protected areas network is embedded in a matrix of plantations, agricultural land and urban areas affecting movements and distributions of many species.
ATREE works in the region to set up local community-base nurseries and supports existing nurseries to enable restoration of agroecosystems. The project is in collaboration with Centre for Social Markets (CSM).
This project aims to promote education through research, grants and workshops to understand the aspirations and challenges to devise interventions against high dropout rates among college students from the Soliga community. To counter dropout rates, workshops and seminars are planned to raise awareness about educational opportunities, scholarship programmes and financial aid are provided to incentivize education. The project aims to improve rural education, reduce dependence on forest resources, and promote sustainable development.
