I’m speaking to three amazing women who work for Nature Conservation Foundation. They manage and coordianate 3 programmes: Bird Count India, Early Bird and Nature Classrooms.

Episode #21 is about the Thano forest in in the Doon valley Uttarakhand- the state where I live. Thano has been in the news lately because the Uttarakhand government has sought the National Wildlife Board's approval to transfer 243 acres of forest land to the Airports Authority of India. They want to expand the local existing Jolly Grant airport into an international airport. Listen to the facts from my 3 guests who are all prominent Doon citizens. Lokesh Ohri: Anthropologist, historian, writer and a cultural activist & founder of Been There Doon That. Abhijay Negi, is a young activist-lawyer, founder of MAD which stand for Making a difference. Both are active drivers of the #savethano movement. I am also speaking with Sanjay Sondhi, a well known naturalist, founder of Titli Trust and a community development and livelihoods expert. Photos courtesy: (Woodpecker included:Sanjay Sondhi), Lokesh Ohri and Abhijay Negi

In this last episode of Season Two of Heart of Conservation, I've put together the collective wisdom of 20+ people who were my guests so far. At the end of every episode, I ask my guests to share something that's significant to them - a word, an idea or their hopes. It's all here. Listen! Read the show notes earthymatters.blog. Season Three coming soon. Stay Safe. Keep Listening.

Truth be told, this is one of those interviews where I got more answers than I expected. As usual I learned a lot and am even more in awe of my guest William McKay Aitken (better known as Bill Aitken). He is a dear friend and hillside neighbour who I have long admired for his sense of adventure, his travel writing, his wit, and take on life.. Bill was born in Scotland, hitchhiked to India across Europe in the 1950s and stayed onto become a naturalized Indian citizen. Drawn by his love for Himalayan mountains and rivers and plateaus of India bill written extensively about them. He has authored over a dozen books including The Nanda Devi Affair and Seven Sacred Rivers Show notes for this podcast will be available soon on earthymatters.blog

Nina Gupta is an ecologist who lives in Auroville (India)and works around the globe as an independent consultant integrating biodiversity conservation and sustainable development options. . She has published a colouring book for adults, the first in India, on Edible Weeds. She takes us through the where, how, which and why of urban foraging and shares her experience of foraging, the weed walks she conducts and also tells us where you draw the line with foraging as well. You can also find her 'Edible weed walk' on YouTube channel. Show notes coming soon on https://earthymatters.blog/ You can check my other podcast stories there in the meanwhile. Cover Art work: Lalitha Krishnan. Photo and illustrations courtesy Nina Sengupta.

Rita is one of India's leading wildlife and environment filmmakers. In an in-depth interview, she speaks about her experience of filming wildlife over a career spanning over 20 years. She also highlights for us conservation issues regarding wildlife trade for example and speaks of her interactions with indigenous communities of the northeast, wildlife education programmes she initiated, including Green Hub - empowering youth with video-fellowships and more. She has recently been selected as an Ashoka Fellow (a lifelong fellowship for the world's leading social entrepreneurs. and was awarded the National Geographic – CMS Prithvi Ratna Award, and in 2018 the RBS Earth Hero Award for her contribution to the environment through films.

Hi, I'm Lalitha Krishnan. I ‘m speaking to Lisa Mills, program director at the Wildlife Conservation Enterprise Program at the University of Montana- Broader Impact Group. The University of Montana in partnership with The Wildlife Friendly Enterprise Network (WFEN), has released a science-based guide or standards for the certification of tea producers under the Certified Elephant Friendly™ Tea label. Lisa has been working to save the “globally endangered” Asian elephant for the past 10 years and is now facilitating ‘The Elephant Friendly Tea Certificate Program in northeast India. Listen to Lisa to understand some crucial issues: What is the connection between tea and elephants? How are the choices you make in the market making a difference? What are the reasons for elephant mortality in tea estates? How are man-animal conflicts resolved? Is there a future market for other wildlife-friendly products in India? Read the Show notes on https://earthymatters.blog/

Hi, I'm Lalitha Krishnan. My guest is Aditi Mukherji: Principal Researcher at the International Water Management Institute. She is the coordinating lead author of the water chapter of the Sixth Assessment Report (AR6) of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), which is to be published in 2021. In her previous job as the Theme Leader of the Water and Air theme at the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) in Nepal, she co-edited a report on the effects of climate change on the Hindu Kush Himalaya (HKH) region. This report that has woken the world to the possible reality that the Hindu Kush Himalayas could lose as much as 90% of its snow and ice by 2100 due to retreating glaciers, glacier-fed rivers, and carbon emissions. She has over 20years of experience working on policies and institutions of water resources management with a special focus on water-energy-food nexus. Photo courtest Aditi Mukerji. Cover Artwork: LalithaKrishnan

Bhavna Menon is the Programme Manager at the Last Wilderness Foundation, an NGO that has been working in three prominent tiger reserves of Madhya Pradesh in India. She has been working with LWF for the past nine years and is clearly passionate and convincingly articulate about why engaging with local communities, children and the forest department is a win-win to mitigate human-wildlife conflict and save the wilderness. Show notes coming soon on https://earthymatters.blog/

Photo courtesy: Bhavna Menon

Almitra Patel is an environmental policy advocate and anti-pollution activist. Her Public Interest Litigation in the Supreme Court against the open dumping of municipal solid waste was instrumental in the drafting of the Municipal Solid Waste Management Rule in India. Her clean up Indian campaign started 20+ long years long before it hit our billboards. Listen to her fascinating story. Show notes coming soon on earthymatters.blog. You can listen and read to other episodes on my blog.