Community Outreach

Community Initiatives

The Mhadei Research Center is now also a platform that trains young naturalists, brings communities and wildlife enthusiasts together, and helps strengthen community outreach programs for researchers as well as grassroots activists.

The Center has also provided resource material ranging from books for libraries, computers, and sports equipment to LCD projectors, water purifiers and laboratory equipment in schools and community centers.

Besides this, the Mhadei Research Center engages with farmer communities, women’s self help groups, honey collector groups and individual artisans to look at sustainable alternative livelihoods in the Mhadei Bio-region.

The Center has taken upon itself the aim of revival of people’s knowledge of agro biodiversity and this has been carried out in a sustained manner for the village of Chorla through community participation. This ongoing process is yielding results and generating interests amongst the locals about their own biodiversity. The community has established a seasonal organic farm in this regard.

Simultaneously awareness work with Chorla, Mann, Kankumbi (Karnataka), Surla and Keri (Goa) and Virdi (Maharashtra) are being carried out via nature education activities. These include using wildlife films, nature games and slide presentations apart from the occasional field trips and other activities that are undertaken from time to time by the team. Special emphasis is laid here on topics like plastic menace, climate change and poaching.