The Western Himalayas has very highest bird species diversity, with certain regions around Corbett National Park attracting large numbers of bird watchers from India and abroad. Bird tourism can support local communities in the Western Himalayas, and foster community participation in conservation. The lack of trained guides and information on bird distributions has limited bird tourism to a few well known spots in the Western Himalayas.

In collaboration with the Uttarakhand State Forest Department, NSI has assisted in training and capacity building for promoting bird tourism in several sites across Garhwal and Kumaon Himalayas.

NSI has also contributed to training programmes for the Punjab Heritage & Tourism Promotion Board.

Training programs on bird ecology and identification for rural youth, nature guides and forest staff:

Uttarakhand Forest Department

Rampur Mandi	3-5 February 2012
Chhoti Haldwani	24-26 February 2012
Chilla	16-18 March 2012
Sankri	8-10 June 2012
Dhanolti Eco Park	5-7 October 2012
Kolhuchaur	1-3 March 2013
Jhajhara	20-22 September 2013
Kanasar	18-21 October 2013

Punjab Heritage & Tourism Promotion Board

Gurdaspur

19-21 December 2012

NSI is in the process of helping develop specialised circuits as tourism product for birdwatcher tourists. To function as a sustainable tourism destination an area should have a circuit of sites that collectively offer a rich bird diversity for birdwatchers, have trained nature guides, have facilities and have credible, quality information for potential visitors. NSI envisages to provide impetus to ongoing efforts towards development of a birdwatching tourism circuit comprising of three key sites in the Doon Valley (Asan-Timli, Thano-Maldevta and Chilla-Laldhang) in coordination with various stakeholders viz. local communities, Forest Department, tour operators and conservationists.

NSI partnered with Uttarakhand Forest Department and Titli Trust to organize the Uttarakhand Spring Bird Festivals held in February 2014 at Asan Conservation Reserve and in February 2015 at Pawalgarh Conservation Reserve, Uttarakhand. Posters about hornbills and bulbuls in the Western Himalayas were released by the Governor or Uttarakhand during the festival, and distributed to school children and nature enthusiasts. NSI also helped conduct birdwatching sessions for public and workshops for birders.

www.uttarakhandbirdfestival.in

The Western Himalayas is undergoing rapid landuse change, with intensification of agriculture, diversion of rivers for dam building and degradation of forest cover. As part of our research, the NSI team has worked towards identifying factors influencing persistence of birds in urban and rural areas. NSI has also carried out status surveys on sensitive species like the Great Slaty Woodpecker.

In collaboration with established scientists who have worked in the western Himalayas, the NSI team developed protocols for long-term monitoring of bird communities in urban, rural and forest areas. These protocols have been tested and are being modified to make them amendable to participation from volunteers and citizen scientists.

Hornbills and figs figure prominently in our stories, culture and heritage. Hornbills and figs are found across several cities and villages in India, are easy to identify and play an important role in maintaining ecosystem function in human-dominated landscapes. Hornbills and figs are symbolic of birds and trees, and the interaction between hornbills and figs is representative of the interlinkages between species that sustains life. Conservation efforts directed at hornbills and figs will also benefit other fruit-eating animals that share resources with hornbills as well as plant species that are dispersed by hornbills and other fruit-eating animals.

In order to facilitate conservation of hornbills and figs in modified landscapes, scientists at NSI are developing a citizen approach to monitor hornbills in cities and villages involving school children and volunteers.

Garbage volumes linked to tourism are increasing alarmingly within and around nature reserves in India. Edible matter in garbage attracts several animals to dump sites. In the process, several animals may consume toxic materials along with edible wastes.
We teamed up with Asian Adventures, one of India's leading nature tour operator, to examine the impact of indiscriminate garbage dumping around nature reserves. Our garbage project examines foraging patterns at dump sites, under different garbage management scenarios including situations where dry waste is segregated from edible / wet wastes.
http://www.asianadventures.net

The NSI team has initiated research to examine the influence of garbage disposal patterns on the diet and behaviour of domestic and wild animals in the Himalayan foothill areas of Uttarakhand. This study aims towards finding ecologically relevant solutions to problems arising from improper disposal of non-biodegradable garbage.

NSI, in collaboration with Slow Motion Projects, Been There Doon That and iWoot Media, is working to communicating the harmful impacts of inadequate garbage segregation on public health, animal welfare and environment among people at pilot locations in Uttarakhand. Public engagement is being carried out through focussed education and awareness sessions, communicating facts and science to different audiences using novel approaches including audiovisual, print, and social media.
http://slowmotionprojects.org/
https://www.facebook.com/walks.btdt/
https://www.facebook.com/iwootmedia/

Several wild species can persist in human-dominated landscapes. In order to understand the ecological function of species in human-scapes, and their position within food webs and interaction networks, scientists at NSI are studying civets in rural and urban areas of the Dehradun valley, Uttarakhand. Civets are members of the Viverid family, and their diet consists of a number of fruits. In the forests, civets are important seed dispersers, and help spread the seeds of several plant species. Scientists at NSI are trying to understand how civets help plants persist in urban and rural landscapes.

NSI scientists made an assessment of the biodiversity at Sunder Nursery in New Delhi for the Aga Khan Trust for Culture as part of their ecological restoration programme and urban renewal. NSI scientists examined birds and butterflies year round at this restoration site to understand what can bring back the birds into these habitats. NSI also conducted a workshop for children from the Nizamuddin Basti to familiarize them with birds.

www.nizamuddinrenewal.org

Scientists from NSI have contributed towards developing curriculum and in teaching courses on field techniques for wildlife research, statistics for biologists and bird identification for the ordinary citizen. Please write to [email protected] for copy of course material.


Analytical methods and statistics for biologists

• International Conference on Indian Ornithology at Coimbatore in November 2011
• Young Ecologists Talk and Interact, held in December 2011 at IIT, Guwahati
• Young Ecologists Talk and Interact, held in December 2012 at WII, Dehradun
• Program for Field Studies March 2012 at Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, Yunnan, China

Bird acoustics

Young Ecologists Talk and Interact, held in December 2012 at WII, Dehradun

NSI scientists have been providing teaching inputs as guest lecturers for Masters level students at institutions including Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun and Ambedkar University, Delhi.

The Art for Science programme was initiated in 2013 to help connect the common man with nature and conservation concerns. Most knowledge about Indian wildlife remains with the elite research community, with little information reaching the common man. Scientists at NSI have engaged with artists and designers to develop interpretative material about birds, beasts, plants and critters in our neighbourhoods.

Here are links to some of NSI's outreach products:

• Interpretive Poster on Bulbuls of Western Himalayas [+]
  
• Interpretive Poster on Hornbills of Western Himalayas [+]
  
• Mugs on Bulbuls of Western Himalayas [+]
  

Please write to [email protected].