Foundation Segré and Keystone: A Partnership for the Nilgiris
October 10, 2022 By Habeeba Fatima and Chandrasekar DasTechnical Coordinator & Additional Programme Coordinator – Biodiversity One of our committed donors, Foundation Segré has been supporting our Biodiversity Conservation team in several of its project activities. Segré is based in France and driven by the mission to build partnerships across the world for the protection […]
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 […]
Steering the Shift to Organic Methods in Tea Farming Across the Nilgiris
September 19, 2022 By Harshavardhini AngappanTechnical Coordinator – Ecological Restoration In May 2022, our Biodiversity Conservation team began a three-month training programme on traditional and organic farming methods for tea growers in the Nilgiris from INCDOSERVE. Also called Industrial Corporative Tea Factory, INDCOSERVE members constitute around 30,000 small tea farmers in the Nilgiris and is […]
Rejuvenating the Massakal stream through community participation
As part of one of the ways to reduce negative interactions between humans and wildlife, the Massakal stream was cleaned of invasive plants. Overgrown invasive plants serve as ideal resting spots for wildlife like sloth bears, wild boar and gaur. Moreover, these areas have become informal dumping areas for garbage-serving the purpose of out of […]
From Living water to Dead waters – a local perception
“Would you believe if we told you there are rural villages in the Nilgiris where women still have to wait for hours to access clean and safe drinking water? Would you believe if we told you that a lot of our communities defecate in the open due to lack of adequate sanitation facilities?” Yes, this […]
Kitchen Garden in Urban Spaces
“It was all so coincidental that a lockdownfollowed after we distributed kitchen garden sets to 36 houses in Kotagiri”,said Shailaja- a community steward who has been engaged with KeystoneFoundation for over 4 years. What started as a vision to re-think restorationin the urban by increasing biodiversity in spaces where there is high built upareas turned […]
One’s livelihood ensures another’s safety
One’s livelihood ensures another’s safety: Newly formed women’s group are making masks for Sanitary workers Marginalized communities are the most affected by the pandemic as it continues to dent their livelihoods and their income. Yet there are stories of communities & people coming together to help those that are most vulnerable and are of dire […]
Covid 19 Relief Work
Dispatches from the Field Our Relief work began on the spur of the moment. Impulsively things took off and everything fell in place. We began distribtuion on 31st March, and upto 13th April – we were able to reach close to 5000 families (Indigenous and Urban informal communities) in Kotagiri & Coonoor. Vegetables, Dry Rations, […]
Community Foundations Meeting
A meeting was held on 24th February as part of the ongoing Community Foundations initiative in Nilgiris Biosphere Reserve. It is a part of a larger network under the GFCF (Global Fund for Community Foundations). The aim of the meeting was to share learnings, experiences of setting up groups at the grassroots level, developing models […]
Medical camp for sanitary workers
About 60 Sanitary workers underwent extensive medical checks during a health camp organised in association with two local town panchayats on 11th February. Sanitary workers from Kotagiri and Kokkalthorai zones (women & men) underwent the screening. Those of them that require re-examinations will be extended the same and the expense will be borne by the organisers. All of them who took […]