Past
Projects

In partnership with Tata Trusts, we experimented with innovative, non-harmful barriers to keep elephants out of tea and coffee estates. Conducted in collaboration with WWS, these trials focus on finding physical solutions that protect crops and livelihoods without causing injury to the elephants. We aim to create a case study of barriers that can be scaled across conflict-prone landscapes.

Effective management begins with identification. We work closely with the Forest Department to create detailed profiles of individual elephants. Building on our foundational work profiling 200 elephants in Gudalur, we currently assist the Wayanad Wildlife Sanctuary (WWS) in tracking and identifying individuals. This "identity-based" approach allows for more precise patrolling and nuanced conflict management.

This project was a pioneering effort to transform the invasive Lantana camara from an ecological threat into a sustainable livelihood for local communities. We experimented with various business models, eventually moving toward a community-run system where artisans crafted furniture from thick Lantana stems. While the project successfully turned problematic weeds into functional products, it served as a vital lesson in the complexities of community-led conservation. We discovered that the success of such interventions depended less on funding and more on understanding local wage competition, market sustainability—favoring robust rural markets over volatile urban ones—and, most importantly, the existing worldview of the community. Ultimately, while the furniture provided meaningful income, it revealed that "consuming" Lantana through artisan crafts was a slow process, highlighting the need for larger-scale industrial solutions to truly tackle the landscape-wide invasion.

For centuries, the indigenous Kattunayakan, Bettakurumba, Paniya, and Mullakurumba communities of the Gudalur Valley lived in a harmonious balance with the natural world. Their spiritual belief systems and traditional practices were never merely cultural relics; they were the original blueprints for conservation. At The Shola Trust, we worked to document and revitalise this vanishing ecological wisdom, ensuring that thousands of years of ancestral knowledge were not lost to modern "development". We operated under the firm belief that the survival of the Nilgiris was inextricably linked to the survival of these indigenous voices and their deep-rooted connection to the land.
 

Our primary focus was the protection of sacred groves, ancient forest patches that served as critical biodiversity "stepping stones" for wildlife in fragmented landscapes. In partnership with the Adivasi Munnetra Sangam, we mapped these sacred spaces to help communities secure legal recognition and protection under the Forest Rights Act (FRA). By documenting traditional forest governance and management practices, we empowered these communities to reclaim their rights to protect, regenerate, and manage their ancestral domains. This work bridged the gap between ancient myths and modern legal frameworks, moving beyond state-controlled conservation toward a future led by the people who knew the forest best.

As we humans ‘developed’, we became less tolerant or willing to share our space with other creatures. And as our population expands, there is correspondingly less and less space for animals.

Snakes are often the first to feel this and are being increasingly killed if they are found near human habitation. In response to this, around 2010 we created an animal rescue centre in Gudalur. It primarily involved rescuing snakes and other wild fauna that get stuck in areas of human habitation and releasing them back into Mudumalai. However, in keeping with our larger agenda of creating awareness on the need to conserve nature, we also used this centre as a way of achieving this. Though classroom sessions/exposure trips are imperative, talking about conserving wildlife with a live specimen stuck within human habitation is much more effective. This centre used rescued animals as a means of attracting local media channels and press to highlight the need to conserve. The message is much more powerful in a real context, centred around, say, a live cobra.

Between 2009 and 2010 we started ‘CAN Clubs’ (Children Act for Nature) in local schools and arranged various trips into Mudumalai, along with a range of other activities for children. The primary aim was to ensure they have a good time and also pick up something meaningful along the way.
We hoped to try and make kids think about surrounding connections before they get absorbed by the system.