Introducing a new generation of conservation leaders: Sushmita Mandal

"I gained an MA in Social Work from the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS), Mumbai, in 2002, and have worked on natural resource management and governance in India for 8 years. I was project officer for the Foundation for Ecological Security, and spent 4 years working on community-based natural resource management and governance in the State of Orissa. I also raised funds to reconcile conservation and livelihoods issues in the Satkosia Gorge Wildlife Sanctuary, now an elephant and tiger reserve in the Eastern Ghats. I joined the Conservation & Livelihoods Programme of the Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment, Bangalore in 2006. I was responsible for strengthening interdisciplinary research on human-landscape interactions in the Biligiri Rangaswamy Temple Wildlife Sanctuary in the Western Ghats. I undertook participatory mapping exercises with the Soligas, the resident tribal community, and analyzed available policy spaces to advocate for protected area co-management.

I hope the MPhil in Conservation Leadership will hone my skills to link local realities and contexts to global processes. I hope the course will gain me a nuanced understanding of conservation issues and apply them through practice and policy advocacy in South Asia."