WWF Small Grant for ATREE Intern

Rathnavel Pandian, currently working as a project intern at ATREE has received a WWF Small Grants Innovation Program (SGIP) Grant to work on “The Relationship between Soil Carbon Sequestration, Dung Beetles and Grassland Management in the Korangadu Grasslands of Western Tamil Nadu”. As a Project Associate, he will be working with Dr Soubadra Devy at ATREE and Senaapathy Kangayam Cattle Research Foundation (SKCRF) at Tiruppur, Tamil Nadu.

Grasslands can act either as carbon sinks or carbon sources depending on their type of management. Therefore, through his project, he aims to study and identify the best management method that maximizes soil carbon sequestration and maximum dung beetle activity in the Korangadu grasslands - which are unique from other grasslands as they are privatized since the 19th century and fenced by thorny hedges. In the bigger picture, the project aims to contribute against the colonial narrative that grasslands in India are ecological wastelands.