Meet the Climate Historians of the Nilgiris
January 10, 2023 By Bhavya George and Madeleine GefkeProgramme Coordinator & Oberlin Shansi Fellow – Climate Change The climate crisis has taken centre stage in the global discourse with rising temperatures, increased extreme weather events and other consequences faced across the world. However, the topic is dominated by complexities of climate science. There is no […]
The Nilgiris Wild Food Festival 2022
December 23, 2022 By The Nilgiris Foundation team From December 19 to 23, The Nilgiris Foundation, our sister concern based in California, U.S.A., organised the very first Nilgiris Wild Food Festival, kicking off what is going to be an annual four-day celebration of indigenous crops and cuisines for years to come. Food ties together several […]
Climate Stories: PARI Network on Storytelling for the Planet
October 7, 2022 By Bhavya George & Arathi MenonProgramme Coordinator – Climate ChangeLead Trainer, Climate Stories & Independent Environmental Journalist Keystone Foundation, in collaboration with Earth Journalism Network (EJN), has been organising Climate Stories, a short-term environment journalism programme to build capacity among the local and indigenous youth of the Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve. Individuals from […]
The Coming Together of Community Foundations in the Nilgiris Hills
September 28, 2022 By Ranjani PrasadArchiving Consultant – People & Nature Collectives Keystone has been partnering with several Community Foundations in the Nilgiris Biosphere Reserve (NBR) for over five years, and these are currently being coordinated and facilitated by the People and Nature Collectives team. The Global Fund for Community Foundations is a worldwide network […]
Indigenous communities using Right Information Act to strengthen FRA
It is said that access to information or being informed can be empowering as it allows one to make good choices or decisions. To access or receive information, one must ask questions. And to ensure robust and useful information, the questions must be framed in a way that is clear, crisp and representative. As citizens, […]
The revival of Millet
Our field-staff, Kannan, from Aracode sent us this refreshing image of Thinai (Foxtail Millet) a few days ago. What’s even delighting is, the fact that despite several hindrances posed by the lockdown since early March, we managed to procure seeds and distribute them to the farmers, just in time for the sowing season. While this […]
Community seed bank (Tubers) at a tribal settlement
Food security is one of the primary concerns for communities residing in the tribal areas of Kerala. The problem gets compounded when communities do not have proper records and documents for their landholdings, which ends up restricting their access to Government support. Godavary tribal settlement is one such place where many of the families have […]
Barefoot Ecologists of the NBR – not low cost field assistants!
Its a little more than 10 years that we have been hosting a Barefoot Ecology program – which trains community members to observe and record habitat quality and changes . Over 50 + community members have been part of the program and they have taken up ecological monitoring, raising nurseries, conducting nature education programs and village […]
Week 5_A glimpse into Marketing and Urbanisation
Local markets in India serve as a hub for social spaces where disputes are settled, friendship bonds are made, marriage proposals take place, etc. They are also where the norms for exchange, traditionally based on trust, were imbibed within different cultures! The week started with depiction of barter-trade systems by students, who in groups of […]
Week 3_Governance
Fun is an essential part of learning at the NFLC. The third week, titled Governance and anchored by Pratim Roy, Founder Director of Keystone Foundation, proved to be just so. While governance might not be easily and directly associated with fun as a first thought, Pratim ensured that the learning path was through an enriching […]
