Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment

Education

• Ph.D., 2004, Ecology and Productivity Studies on some Non-timber Forest Products of Biligiri Rangaswamy Temple Wildlife Sanctuary, University of Mysore, India.
• Master Degree, 1994, Botany, University of Bangalore, India.
• Bachelor Degree, 1992, Chemistry, Botany and Zoology, University of Bangalore, India.

Research Interests

• Sustainable management of forest resources and value addition.
• Poverty alleviation in biodiversity rich areas through sustainable use.
• Sustainable agriculture and organic farming.
• Community conservation and strengthening traditional institutions.
• Environmental education and restoration.
• Bringing scientific knowledge and approaches with traditional knowledge.

Achievements:

• Since 15 years, bridging science and practice for a sustainable development.
• Prepared a resource map for 540 sq km forest in Western Ghats, India.
• Sustainable harvest of Non-timber forest Products (NTFPs) and value addition.
• Awareness and training on sustainable resource harvest for around 7000 Soliga tribes.
• Developed a methodology for Participatory Resource Monitoring (PRM) technique.
• Long term monitoring of forest resource.
• Assisted tribes on sustainable agriculture and organic farming.
• Involved in environmental education for school children.
• Restoration of economically important plants and strengthening traditional institutions.

Experience

• April 2009 to till date: Fellow and outreach coordinator, Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment (ATREE) India.
• 2008 to 2009: Post-Doctoral Fellow and Outreach Coordinator, ATREE
• 2002 to 2007: Outreach Coordinator, in ATREE
• 1998 to 2001: Research Associate, ATREE
• 1994 to 1997: Research Assistant, Tata Energy Research Institute (TERI) India.

Course and experience from abroad:

• Quantitative Methods of Applied Ethnobotany, 15th - 26th Sep 1997, Malaysia.
• Qualitative Methods of Applied Ethnobotany, 16th - 28th Feb 1998, Philippines.
• Ethnobotany and Returning result to the communities, 22nd - 27th Jun 1998, Malaysia.
• Geographic Information System (G I S), 8th - 15th Feb 1998, Philippines.
• Systematic Classification of Plants, 15th - 21st June 1998, Malaysia.
• Developing Project Proposals/ Professional Writing/ Reporting, 10th - 17th Nov 2003, Kasetsart University, Thailand.
• Collaborative research on sustainable harvest of forest resource, Sept and Oct 2005, University of Hawaii USA.
• Visited to present work in American Museum of Natural History, New York, USA in First week of April 2009

Project completed:

• Integrated approach to conservation of Bio-diversity, with special reference to Non Wood Forest Products (NWFP) at B R Hills Wild life Sanctuary, a Planning grant from Biodiversity Conservation Network, 1994.
• Integrated approach to conservation of Bio-diversity, with special reference to Non Wood Forest Products (NWFP) at B R Hills Wild life Sanctuary (Implementation grant from Biodiversity Conservation Network), 1995-97.
• Conservation of Non Wood Forest Products (NWFP) with involvement of community people using Participatory Resource Monitoring technique at Biligiri Rangan Hills Wild life Sanctuary (supported from Ford foundation), 1998.
• Integrated approach towards conservation of Biligiri Ranghan Hills wild life sanctuary (supported from Ford foundation), 1999-2001.
• Integrating conservation, livelihoods and awareness: A comprehensive Natural Resource Management program in the Western Ghats. (supported by Royal Norwegian Embassy, New Delhi), 2002-04.
• Managing and Conserving Biodiversity in the Western Ghats, India. (funded by Sir Dorabji Tata Trust, Mumbai), 2001-04.
• Diversification and substitution of resource use: Approaches to enhance livelihoods and conserve biological diversity, (funded by Development Market Place, World Bank, Washington D.C.), 2003-04.

Project on going:

• Promote the use of sustainable agro-forestry systems to conserve soil, increase on-farm diversity and income (supported by Dorabji Tata Trust, New Delhi), 2005 -07.
• Enhancing Livelihoods of Marginal Forest Communities in Karnataka and Tamil Nadu by Promoting the Utilization of Lantana as a Substitute for Bamboo, (supported by the Dept. of Biotechnology, Government of India, New Delhi, (2004-07).
• Conservation and livelihood programme attempting to evolve a sustainable and democratic model of conservation. (funded by Sri Dorabji Tata Trust), 2005-07.

Principal investigator:

• Local Alternatives for Temple Offerings in South India - MM Hills and BR Hills, (supported by Department of Biotechnology, New Delhi), 2006.
• "Local alternatives for Temple offerings in South India- MM Hills and Biligiri Rangaswamy Temple Wildlife Sanctuary, Nagamalai and Allagarkoil at Madhurai" (supported by Department of Bio-technology), 2007 to 2010.

Grants / Awards / Honors

Awards

• Received Fulbright-Nehru Environmental Leadership Fellowship 2009; to visit Oregon State University USA for four months in 2009
• Received fellowship from WWF Malaysia to attend courses on Ethnobotany in Malaysia and Philippines in 1996.

Complete Publications

1. Murali. K. S., R. Siddappa Setty, K. N. Ganeshaiah, and R. Uma Shaaker., 1998. Does forest type classification reflects spatial dynamics of vegetation? An analysis using GIS techniques. Current Science 75: 220-227.
2. Murali. K. S., and Siddappa Setty. R., 2001. Effect of weeds Lantana camara and Chromelina odarata growth on the species diversity, regeneration and stem density of tree and shrub layer in BRT sanctuary. Current Science 80(5): 675-678.
3. Ganesan. R. and R. Siddappa Setty., 2004. Regeneration of Amla, an important Non-timber Forest Product from Southern India. Conservation and Society 2, 2. Page number 365-375.
4. Siddappa Setty. R., 2002. Manuals on Sustainable harvest of Non-timber forest products for the community people.
5. Siddappa Setty. R., K. S. Murali and K. S. Bawa., 1996. Extraction of Honey from rock bee (Apis dorsata) by Soligas Tribes in B.R.Hills, Mysore District. Proceedings of Honey Festival in India.
6. Siddappa Setty. R., K. S. Murali, Bushan., 1997. Biodiversity Register Book for the Biligirirangan Hills Wild Life Sanctuary.
7. Siddappa Setty. R., K. S. Bawa and J. Bommaiah., 2001. Participatory resource monitoring for non-timber forest products in Biligiri Rangaswamy Temple wildlife sanctuary, Karnataka, India. Proceedings of the International Conference on Tropical Ecosystem: Structure, Diversity and Human Welfare, Bangalore.
8. Siddappa Setty. R., K. S. Bawa and C. Madegowda., 2003. Conservation of non-timber forest products with community participation in Biligiri Rangaswamy Temple wildlife sanctuary, Karnataka India. Proceedings of Policies, Management, Utilization and Conservation of Non-timber Forest Products in South Asia Region Bangalore.
9. Siddappa Setty. R,. and Sushmita Mandal, November 2007 "A Case Study on ATREE's Experiences in Participatory Resource Monitoring" published in Journal of Community Forestry in Ecology section. Page 29-35.
10. Siddappa Setty. R and Sushmita Mandal, 2007. " Tribal Development and Conservation in a Wildlife Sanctuary" by published in book of Gender and Social Inclusion for Sustainable Livelihoods, Page 7-17.
11. Kamaljit S. Bawa, Gladwin Joseph, Siddappa Setty. R 2007. Poverty, biodiversity and institutions in forest-agriculture ecotones in the Western Ghats and Eastern Himalaya ranges of India, Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment 121 (2007) 287-295.
12. Siddappa Setty. R, Kamal Bawa, Tamara Ticktin, and C. Made Gowda. 2008.

Evaluation of a Participatory Resource Monitoring System for Nontimber Forest Products: the Case of Amla (Phyllanthus spp.) Fruit Harvest by Soligas in South India. Ecology and Society 13(2): 19. [online] URL: http://www.ecologyandsociety.org/vol13/ iss2/art19

13. Siddappa Setty. R., Nitin Rai and Kamal Bawa., Characteristics of Honey Resources in a Tropical Forest: Productivity and Extraction in Biligiri Rangaswamy Temple Wildlife Sanctuary, Southern India (Manuscript).
14. Jagdish Krishnaswamy, M.C Kiran, Ankila Hiremath and R. Siddappa Setty. Fuzzy fire mapping in diverse tropical deciduous ecosystems using multi-date NDVI (Manuscript).
15. Edited book: Learning for Life: Nature as Our Teacher, Environmental Handbook for Educators on Biligirirangaswamy Temple Wildlife Sanctuary, Karnataka by Sujatha Padmanabhan, Sunita Rao 2005.

Popular articles in news paper and magazine:

1. "Sustainable Harvest of Honey" (24 May 2007) published in popular daily news paper prajavani. http://www.prajavani.net/Content/May242007/agri2007052329554.asp
2. Returning of granite mining threatens Karnataka (24 Oct 2007. Published in Science and Environment online Down to Earth Magazine. http://www.downtoearth.org.in/full6.asp?foldername=20071031&filename=news&sec_id=10&sid=12

Meetings / Conferences / Symposiums / Workshops

• Participated in three days workshop on Participatory Resource Mapping technique held at Biligirirangaswamy Temple wildlife sanctuary organized by Tata Energy Research Institute, Bangalore 1996.
• Salim Ali Centenary Symposium; Western Ghates Bio-diversity and Discussion meeting held at India Institute of Science, Bangalore 1996.
• Conservation and Sustainable use of rock bee (Apis dorsata) honey by Soligas tribes in Biligirirangaswamy Temple wildlife sanctuary, Avalanche Series Symposium held at Kaivara, Kolar (District) India 1997.
• Extraction of rock bee honey by Soliga tribes in B. R. Hills, paper presented at National Conference on Apiculture, First Karnataka Honey Festival at Bangalore 1997.
• Participatory Resource Monitoring on Phyllanthus emblica and rock bee by Soliga tribes at B.R.Hills Wild Life Sanctuary, at Certificatory Training Course in Applied Ethnobotany, Kinabalu Park, Sabah, Malaysia 1998.
• Participatory approaches case study; as resource person in Certificatory Training Course on Biodiversity Conservation Project and Participatory resource monitoring by Soliga Tribes at B R Hills, at Kinabalu Park at Malaysia 1998.
• III Congress of IUSSI-India Chapter March 1998 Diversity of Social Insects and other Athropods and the functioning of Ecosystem at college of Horticulture. Mudigere (Western ghats) 1998.
• "Participatory Resource Monitoring By Soliga Tribes at B R Hills. Karnataka" was made at the session on: The Barefoot Scientist" at International conference: 6th World Wilderness Congress, The call for the sustainable future. 24th - 29th October 1998, Bangalore, India at Ashoka Hotel.
• Participatory resource monitoring for NTFPs in BRT Wild life Sanctuary, Karnataka presented in the National conference on Sustainable management of NTFPs in Trivanddrum, Kerala held on 25th May 2000.
• International conference on Indigenous Indic Traditions in forestry: Lessons for contemporary Sustainable forest Management 8-10 February 2001. in forest management presented paper on Participatory Resource monitoring in BRT Wild life Sanctuary Bhopal
• 2nd National Conference of the Western Ghats Forum Integrating Science and Management of Biodiversity in the western ghats at State Forest Service College, Coimbatore 1-2 December 2005. Oral presentation on; Participatory resource monitoring in Biligirirangan Hills wildlife sanctuary.
• Biodiversity conservation with special reference to Non timber forest products of Biligiri Rangaswamy Temple wildlife sanctuary in India, At university of Hawaii at Honolulu USA. September 2005.
• Participatory Resource Monitoring in Biligiri Rangaswamy Temple wildlife sanctuary, at Pondicherri. 28th to 30th November 2005 at Workshop on conservation of Non-timber forest products. Organized by Key stone.
• Characteristics of Honey Resources in a Tropical Forest: Productivity and Long term monitoring of bee colonies in Biligiri Rangaswamy Temple Wildlife Sanctuary, Southern India. Siddappa Setty, Nitin Rai and Kamal Bawa at ARCS 2006, annual research and conservation seminar.
• Results and evaluation of a participatory monitoring system for NTFP: the case of Amla fruit harvest by tribal peoples in South India, R. Siddappa Setty, C. Madegowda, R. Ganesan, Kamal Bawa and Tamara Ticktin. Workshop organized by FRLHT, Bangalore. February 2006.
• Third Regional Practitioners Workshop-Southern Karnataka on: Livestock-Livelihoods-Environment: Sharing of Experiences Organised by LEAD Advocacy Network-Karnataka (LAN-K) - SAMUHA, At Hotel Airlines, Mysore, during 3-5th February, 2006.
• Workshop on Resins and Gums (Policy, Management and Trade in India) at Araku Valley, Andhra Pradesh during 11-13 April 2006. Organized by Greetings from RCDC Centre for Forestry and Governance, Bhubaneswar. Venue- Hotel Jungle Bells, Tyda, Araku Valley, Andhra Pradesh, India
• Participated and helped to conduct "Consultation Workshop on National Capacity Self-Assessment (NCSA) for Biodiversity Conservation in North East India" - organised by ATREE, under the aegis of the MoEF, GoI and with the support of UNDP, on the 26th of August 2006 at Shillong, Meghalaya.
• Co-management of Biodiversity: Traditional Knowledge and Forest Right of the Soligas in South India, Sidharth Krishnan, C. Madegowda, Sushmita Mandal, Siddappa Setty and Nitin Rai was presented by Sidharth Krishnan in an International Conference on Sustainable Forest Management and Poverty Alleviation: Roles of Traditional Forest-related Knowledge held in Kunming, China 17th to 20th December 2007.

Courses attended:

• Training on statistical applications in forest research at Kerala Forest Research Institute, Peechi (6th to 10th of May 2002).
• Training on management development programme on Sustainable livelihoods, community organizations and income generation activities conducted by the Institute of Rural Management, Anand (Jan 31to Feb 4, 2005).
• Training on Social science for natural scientists conducted by Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and Environment, Bangalore (June 8 to 13, 2009).

li>

• Training on management development programme on Sustainable livelihoods, community organizations and income generation activities conducted by the Institute of Rural Management, Anand during January 31- February 4, 2005.

Others

References

Dr. R. Uma Shaanker
Associate Professor
Department of Crop Physiology
University of Agricultural Sciences
G.K.V.K, Bangalore, Karnataka
Pin: 560 065
Ph: 080 23636 350
Fax: 23530070
E-mail: rus@vsnl.com

Dr. Kamaljit S. Bawa
Distinguished Professor
Department of Biology
University of Massachusetts Boston
100 Morrissey Blvd.
Boston, MA 02125 U.S.A.
Ph: 617-287-6657
Fax: 617-287-6650
Email: kamal.bawa@umb.edu

Dr. Gladwin Joseph
Director and senior fellow
Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment
No. 659, 5th 'A' Main Road, Hebbal
Bangalore-560024. India
Ph.: 91-80-23530069, 23540639
Fax: 91-80-23530070
Email: gladwin@atree.org

Dr. K. S. Murali
Programme Officer (Biodiversity)
United Nations Development Programme
No. 55 Lodhi Estate
New Delhi 110 003
Phone- 91-11-46532262, 91-11-24628877 ext-262
Fax: 91-11-24627984
Email: murali.kallur@gmail.com

Contact

Postal address:
Dr. Siddappa Setty
ATREE
Royal Enclave, Srirampura,
Jakkur Post, Bangalore-560064
Ph. No: 91-821- 2511899, Cell No: 9980299595
Fax 91-80-23530070

Email:
siddappa@atree.org, siddssetts@yahoo.com