Conservation science has long been seen as the domain of trained professionals. At CC, we have long acknowledged the role of indigenous knowledge, and published a special issue on the topic in 2013. We engage with this issue by visiting a fascinating project in the Nilgiris, a collaboration between Keystone Foundation, a local NGO and Cornell University, USA. Steven Wolf et al. provide an overview of the project which attempts to integrate research and practice towards conservation and sustainable development. Their article is linked to seven research pieces (online only) written by seven by pairs of student researchers including an undergraduate student from Cornell and a young Adivasi community member from the Nilgiris.
Kartik Shanker