An Introduction
Conservation approaches are integral to all projects at Keystone Foundation. From distant villages to urban taluks to districts within the state, work is now at a landscape level. The conservation focus keeps pace with enterprise and livelihoods. Specific projects provide insights into the ecology of bees, forest fruits, resin yielding trees, endemic cycads, agriculture, water, Read more »
Wetland Management
Hill wetlands belong to a small minority of water bodies which are widespread and under serious threat. Hill wetlands are highly ignored but much valuable resources for human need. The wetlands project sought to gather substantive information about these wetlands and initiate awareness amongst the people of the hill district. Objectives Survey and mapping of Read more »
Bees, Biodiversity & Livelihoods
The Darwin Initiative, funded by the UK Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) draws on the wealth of biodiversity expertise in the UK to work with local partners in host countries to protect and enhance their biodiversity. Keystone won this award in 2006, alongwith its UK partners – the University of East Anglia Read more »
The Nilgiris Biodiversity Festival, Oct 2009
The Workshop on “Community-based Ecological Monitoring & Adaptive Management for Enhancing NTFP Management in India” started with an informal gathering of the participants on the Keystone campus. Stone lamps were lit and resin was burnt symbolically. Pratim Roy, Director – Keystone Foundation welcomed all the participants especially the special guests, Dr. Charles Peters (Kate E. Read more »
Ecological Monitoring
Securing the livelihoods of forest-dependent peoples and the biodiversity they depend on necessitates good governance and sustainable management of common-pool forest resources. This is of special importance in the Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve (NBR), South India, which supports high levels of both biological and cultural diversity. Keystone’s action-research over the past 15 years has illustrated the Read more »
Nurseries
Raising of indigenous forest and horticultural species has been an area of priority in the work at Keystone. Most nurseries grow ornamental and horticulture varieties, but we raise forest and shola species and are being recognized for it by people and Forest Departments. Earlier, only the Forest Department would grow such nurseries. In our approach, Read more »
Conservation Education
The mission of Keystone Foundation is to enhance the quality of life and environment with indigenous communities using eco-development approaches. Keeping this in mind, we initiated a programme on Conservation Education at various levels of the communities in the NBR. The level of interactions can be termed in the following heads. – Conservation education for Read more »
