I started a conservation programme in 2003 in the Namdapha and Pakke Tiger Reserves, two important protected areas in Arunachal Pradesh, Eastern Himalaya, where we are working with indigenous communities to achieve wildlife conservation.

Prior research has established relatively low wildlife abundance, primarily due to hunting. We have been engaged in seeking community support to ensure protection from hunting through a variety of integrated community welfare programmes. We employ knowledgeable ‘reformed’ hunters to monitor and protect several threatened faunal groups.

In this project, we will establish rigorous long-term wildlife monitoring protocols with the involvement of local communities, and assess landscape level changes in forest cover that will provide ecological baselines for better management and evaluation of the impact of our overall conservation programme.