Category: Research

COVID-19 community support

6/23/2020

On-the-ground support for central Indian communities

Communities living around Tiger Reserves who depend on tourism revenue for income face numerous challenges during our global pandemic because of the inability to travel and the absence of tourism. We provided basic needs to communities living around Panna, Bandhavgarh, and Kanha Tiger Reserves through financial support to the Last Wilderness Foundation, one of our Indian-based non-profit partners.

Research

For the last 5 years, Wild Tiger has been working in central India, which in addition to being a global priority tiger conservation landscape, is home to a high population of indigenous and traditionally marginalized people. These communities largely live at the edge of forests, and depend on these forests for their livelihoods and subsistence. Households also engage in seasonal migrant labor and amidst the COVID-19 lockdown, these migrants are traveling home from urban centers where the virus is present. Sarika is a co-author on a paper accepted in the journal Current Science titled Post-lockdown Spread of COVID-19 from Cities to Vulnerable Forest-Fringe Villages in Central India, which identifies potential methods to ease the spread of the virus if it reaches these rural, forest-dependent communities.

A message on coronavirus

4/1/2020

Research in India suspended

We share our condolences with anyone who has been affected by COVID-19 (coronavirus). In a way, even if you do not have friends or family that have been infected, we have all been affected by the pandemic. Our daily lives and routines have changed, and uncertainty seems to be the only thing that is certain. This pandemic started because of humans extractive relationship with nature. Although we all desire to return to 'normal,' we need a new normal. We hope everyone can take time to reflect on how we can repair our relationship with nature, and how us as individuals can use our skills and passions to help make the world a better place.

It is unfortunate news we share today. Sarika Khanwilkar will be returning to the United States and she is now a Fulbright Alumni. Our research in India has been suspended until Tiger Reserves can be safely re-opened and travel resumes.

Accomplishments and Status:

February 2020 - present: Sarika started Hindi language classes.
February 2020: 16 days were spent around Kanha and Pench Tiger Reserves in Madhya Pradesh, collecting field data on vegetation.
February 2020: Sarika gave a talk at the Fulbright South and Central Asia conference held in Kochi, India.

January 2020 update

1/15/2020

Community engagement and outreach updates

Wild Tiger believes in teaching the next-generation of budding scientists and policy-makers about wildlife conservation and career development.

Accomplishments and Status:

November 2018 - present: Sarika serves as a Council Member with the Student Conservation Association’s Alumni Engagement Council.
October 2018: Presented on Wild Tiger's mentorship program, the Youth Council, at the Society for Conservation Biology Conservation Marketing and Engagement Conference in Washington DC.
December 2018: Presented on tigers and tiger conservation at St. Mary's Elementary School in Fredericksburg, TX.
September 2019: Sarika gave a virtual webinar on her research at the Student Conservation’s Association 2019 Unconference.

Research updates

Forest health and forest livelihoods in central India
Sarika’s research uses high resolution satellite imagery to classify land cover (such as trees, bare ground, urban areas, and water) and create maps, and household questionnaires to understand how people are using the forest.

Accomplishments and Status:

October 2019: Invited speaker at her alma mater, Gonzaga University. Presented at the Biology department's student and faculty seminar.
August 2019: Poster presented at the Student Conference on Conservation Science at the American Museum of Natural History. New York City.
April 2019: Poster presented at the NASA Land Cover Land Use Change Science team meeting in Rockville, MD. Sarika presented her progress in using remote sensing data to detect forest degradation.
In January 2019: Poster presented at the Central India Landscape Symposium in Melghat Tiger Reserve, Maharashtra, India.

Project Dhvani
Sarika has partnered with Pooja Choksi and Vijay Ramesh, fellow PhD candidates at Columbia University to start Project Dhvani. This project utilizes the burgeoning interdisciplinary science of sound ecology, which uses sound recordings, big data and machine learning to measure the state of our forests and identify vocalizing species in a particular area.

Accomplishments and Status:

May - July 2018: The team began initial research surveys in and around Anamalai, Kanha and Satpura Tiger Reserves. They developed relationships with local NGOs and Forest Department staff, and performed field reconnaissance for future study sites and tested methods to record and analyze forest sounds.
Funding for this work has been received from National Geographic Society, The Earth Institute, Columbia University’s Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Environmental Science, and the Advanced Consortium on Cooperation, Conflict, and Complexity.

PhD in Ecology and Evolution, Columbia University in New York
In 2019, Sarika completed all her coursework, and passed her oral exams to qualify as a doctoral candidate. Sarika was honored to be selected as a U.S. Fulbright Student Researcher to India in 2020. During her Fulbright year, Sarika will be doing fieldwork and, as apart of the Critical Language Enhancement Award, she will study the Hindi language in Dehradun, Uttarkhand, India before she begins her research and community engagement. Sarika will complete her language, research and community engagement work for her Fulbright year in India in February 2021. Since the beginning of her PhD, Sarika has received funding from: Columbia University's Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Environmental Biology and the Society for Conservation Biology.

TRACT and advancing conservation efforts in India
Sarika has been learning and working with TRACT (Tiger Research and Conservation Trust) led by Poonam and Harshwardhan Dhanwatey since 2015. From April – June 2017, Sarika was in Kuno-Palpur Wildlife Sanctuary in Madhya Pradesh working as a Field Researcher with Devavrat Pawar.

Accomplishments and Status:

January 2018 - Sarika gave a talk at International Society of Tropical Foresters conference at Yale University on how TRACT has successfully galvanized community members to protect themselves and minimize conflict with wildlife.
In May 2019, Devavrat Pawar published a paper on his work in Kuno-Palpur Wildlife Sanctuary with Sarika as a co-author in the Journal of Threatened Taxa

Updates

COVID-19 community support

A message on coronavirus

January 2020 update

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