Chennai: The Habitats Trust, founded by Roshni Nadar Malhotra, chairperson of HCL Technologies, recently announced the recipients of The Habitats Trust Grants 2020.
The Habitats Trust Grants is an annual initiative aimed at securing Indiaās biodiversity by bolstering efforts of conservationists on-ground by bridging the resource gap along and providing critical support to make their work more sustainable.
SEEDS Trust received the Lesser-known Habitats Grant (Rs 20 Lakh) for its conservation project in the Ayyalur forest region in Tamilnadu, home to the Grey Slender Loris.
SEEDS Trust, with support from the Habitats Trust Grants, will work towards development of a model to demonstrate sustainable regeneration methods of degraded habitats. It will train and support women forest gatherers in sustainable harvest methods and also train forest cattle grazers in sustainable grazing methods as well as for on-site fodder cultivation within village farms.
Roshni Nadar said, āWe have seen conservationists, surmounting numerous hurdles and make heroic efforts to continue pushing ahead with their mission of protecting vulnerable biodiversity even in these difficult times. As part of our commitment, we are honoured to extend our support to them and their projects that are aimed at restoring and protecting critical ecosystems to help better preserve our natural biodiversityā.
The Habitats Trust Grantsā recipients were selected through a rigorous five-stage process that took into account the expected impact, relevance and scalability of the project; the applicantsā capacity to deliver and finally the long-term sustainability of their proposed work post the one year grant period.
The Trust received over 4300 registrations this year and chose 12 finalists after conducting a thorough evaluation and due diligence by an external auditor.