eJournal | Involving tribal communities in conservation: Sustainable resource use and forest conservation by the Kaani community of Kanyakumari – Tamil Nadu

Update 8 February 2018: see S. David Sargunam, Ch. 3, pp. 37-55

3. Sustainable resource use and forest conservation by the Kaani indigenous community of Kanyakumari forests in the Western Ghats, India

published in: 

Madhav Karki, Rosemary Hill, Dayuan Xue, William Alangui, Kaoru Ichikawa and Peter Bridgewater (eds.). 2017.
Knowing our Lands and Resources: Indigenous and Local Knowledge and Practices related to Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services in Asia. Knowledges of Nature 10. UNESCO: Paris. pp. 200.

Backup copy (PDF, 4,1 MB)

Environmental Profile of S Davidson Sargunam (Nagercoil)

India S Davidson Sargunam also known as S S Davidson serves to conserve the pristine forest ecology of Kanyakumari forests in Western Ghats, India, which is a bio-diversity Hot Spot, UNESCO Heritage Center and part of the Kalakad-Mundanthurai Tiger Reserve (KMTR). He has the firm conviction that forest conservation and sustainable development are highly dependent on the development of the inhabitant Kaani tribal community’s social, economic, cultural and environmental areas and they should be sensitized and made partakers in forest conservation. […]

He serves as a Resource Person in seminars related to Environment organized by the National Service Scheme for Higher secondary School students (17-18 years). He has presented many Papers in seminars and some are published in books with ISBN. […]

To promote the health status of the indigenous people, he conducts regular General Medical Camps and Eye Camps with doctors from the Government Medical College.
He has spotted 12 edible mushrooms in the wild in the Western Ghats and to conserve them and their genes, he imparts training in mushroom culture to Kaani people for their consumption, so that they are not destroyed in the wild. […]

In 2016, he was invited by UNESCO to Thailand and Nepal to explain his conepts on the tools used by the Kaani tribal people to counter Human Versus Animal Conflict, which is referred ad Indigenous Local Knowledge (ILK ) and declared him as an ILK Expert.

In November 2017, he was awarded with Tamil Nadu State Environment Award with a title Eco-Warrior for his commmitment and dedication in Environmental Management.

Source: courtesy Davidson Sargunam, email 23-1-18

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