Grassland restoration visit – Pampadum Shola National Park, Vattavada, Munnar
By Vishnu, Biodiversity From March 19 to 20, 2025, a team from Keystone Foundation visited the grassland restoration plot developed by the Kerala Forest Department in Pampadum Shola National Park as part of a training program for Barefoot Ecologists (BFEs). The objective was to study the grassland restoration efforts in the region. A total of […]
Spring Revival in Agal and Pudhu Kotagiri
By Ramajeyam R., Technical Coordinator, Biodiversity Conservation In the month of February, we had identified two springs in Agal and Pudhu Kotagiri that were choked with invasives, barely containing water and waiting to be revived. We kicked off this spring revival initiative by clearing the site of invasives such as Lantana camara, Solanum mauritianum, Bidens […]
Biodiversity Team Members Attend NCF Conservation Leadership Course
Articles by Vishnu N.M. and Ramajeyam R., Technical Coordinators, Biodiversity Conservation Team Vishnu’s Experience: “An Introduction to Conservation in Practice”, Vagamon, Kerala In 2025, the Nature Conservation Foundation (NCF) conducted several courses related to conservation. I had the opportunity to participate in a course titled “An Introduction to Conservation in Practice” (conducted in Malayalam), which […]
Naturalist Training in Pillur
By S.P. Silambarasan, Technical Coordinator, Biodiversity Conservation Cover photo by Shawn J. Stephen On Saturday, 23rd November, we held a naturalist training in Pillur. The training began at 10 am, and 24 people attended, the group consisting of 14 men and 10 women. Special guest Dr. P.Jeganathan from the Nature Conservation Foundation taught us about […]
School Programs at Panapara Tea Estate
By Sophie Bernstein, Shansi Fellow, Biodiversity Conservation On November 19th, students from The Lawrence School, followed by students from the Chamraj School on November 26th, 2024, visited one of Keystone’s restoration sites, the Panapara Tea Estate in the Nilgiris. The events started off with a thorough explanation of the estate and its environment. This included […]
NDEAVOUR RNP Climate & Environment Portfolio Gathering in Mangalore.
By Monthish Kuttan, Technical Coordinator and Community Researcher, People and Nature Collectives This month, staff from our Climate Change and Biodiversity teams attended the NDEAVOUR RNP Climate & Environment Portfolio Gathering in Mangalore. The gathering consisted of talks on how climate change impacts livelihoods, daily life, and food patterns. Monthish Kuttan shares his takeaways from […]
Community Participatory Restoration Program in Hasanur & Punanjanur
By Vishnu N.M., Restoration Ecologist, Biodiversity Conservation Header photo credit: Vishnu We conducted this restoration program in the Hasanur area, at a local pond. We initially started to conserve the pond ecosystem in August, when we planted 40 native plants around the pond. Before we began restoration, the pond was surrounded by invasive species like […]
Biodiversity Team Attends SCCS Bangalore
By Shawn J. Stephen, Apiculture, Acoustics and Science Communication, Biodiversity Conservation From the 21st to the 24th of October, a few members of the Biodiversity unit had attended the 15th edition of the Student Conference on Conservation Sciences held at IISC, Bangalore. We had 4 days packed with inspiring talks, engaging workshops, informative poster presentations, […]
Participating in the Regional Conservation Forum – IUCN – Asia
By Anita Varghese, Director, Biodiversity Conservation Our organization has been a member of the IUCN since 2012. The World Conservation Congress ofthe IUCN takes place every four years; we were present at Jeju, Hawaii and Marseille for theseevents. As a line up to the Congress, regional meetings occur a year ahead. The Asia RegionalConservation Forum […]
From Valparai to Nairobi: Meetings with ERA and REDAA
By Anita Varghese, Director Header photo: REDAA Community An alliance for ecological restoration – ERA and Keystone September 14-15, 2024 Since 2021, Keystone has supported by giving time and effort to build a national alliance forecological restoration. This effort was lead by Nature Conservation Foundation – Valparai, who invited us to the meeting. The alliance […]
