Independent Researcher
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Independent Researcher
Priyadarsanan Dharma Rajan is an accomplished conservation & sustainability researcher and practitioner, with nearly three decades of experience. He retired from ATREE as Senior Fellow. Priyan’s work bridges ecology, climate science and social dimensions to tackle pressing environmental and sustainability challenges.
He pioneered ‘Deliberative Democratic Conservation (DDC)’, a paradigm that fosters consensus among stakeholders for effective policy formulation and the creation of enduring, inclusive institutional mechanisms. He actively engaged with policymakers to advance science-based climate adaptation strategies and worked directly with local communities to implement resilience-building programmes. His significant contributions to the conservation of Vembanad Lake (Kerala, India) – the largest tropical wetland ecosystem on India’s southwest coast and a designated Ramsar site – have earned acclaim from conservationists worldwide (www.vembanad.org).
Beyond his conservation and sustainability efforts, Priyan is a highly accomplished insect taxonomist and ecologist. He has described over 150 new insect species and several new genera. His extensive publications include five books, more than 100 research papers and numerous popular articles.
Priyan holds a doctoral degree from the University of Calicut (Kerala). He’s also an active member of various national and international scientific and academic bodies and serves on the Board of Editors for several journals.
