Improving Public Awareness to Promote Conservation of Keystone Species and their Habitat in Human-Modified Landscapes: Hornbills in Western Himalayas

Project Animal(s) : Indian Grey Hornbill
Project Category : Birds
Project Region : Asia
Project Type : Conservation
Project URL : https://www.rufford.org/projects/raman_kumar_0
Project is timebound? : Yes

Project Start Date : June 25, 2018

Pervasive changes in land-use reduce the abundance of ecologically suitable trees and affect the functional role of critical species like hornbills that are long-range dispersers of plant seeds. In our previous project in the Western Himalayas (India) we used the hornbill-fig tree system as a flagship to successfully create public awareness through school programmes, public walks and by producing a storybook. Building upon our previous initiatives this project aims to

(1) increase the geographical range, effectiveness and interactivity of awareness programmes conceived previously

This will be done by:

(1a) expanding the network of schools covered in Phase 1;
(1b) designing activities for schoolchildren;
(1c) producing the Hindi version of the previously produced children’s storybook’;
(1d) setting up nature clubs in select schools;
(1e) initiating an activity centre for children;
(1f) developing audio-visual short film clips;
(1g) conducting interactive sessions with adults through nature walks and other public events.

(2) harness citizen science to gather data on hornbills and trees in urban and rural areas

Project Agency : Nature Science Initiative

Project Agency Contact : http://www.naturescienceinitiative.org/

Project Researcher : Raman Kumar

Project Researcher Contact : raman@naturescienceinitiative.org