Ecological Restoration is Transformation.
Similar to the native habitats we restore, our website is currently undergoing metamorphosis.
In the meantime, please scroll down to read a few snippets about us and our work.
About Upstream Ecology
Upstream Ecology is an environmental conservation organisation located amidst the vibrant Nilgiris District in Southern India. We are committed to ecological restoration of the Nilgiris Biosphere Reserve (NBR), ensuring a sustainable living for biodiversity as well as communities that live within the biosphere.
Working upwards from the plant level, our mission is to preserve and restore biodiversity, ecosystem services, develop more sustainable land use systems and to manage natural resources, mitigate climate change, and control invasive species of flora.
We believe that soil, water, and plant ecology level is ground zero, and supports all other levels above, including humans. We believe that indigenous knowledge systems need to be heard. We are poised to strengthen local action in the NBR with a spectrum of approaches and solutions, developed over 8 years of research and practice.
Read about our work and insights over the past 14 years.
Restoration
Through our native nurseries located in the Upper and Lower plateaus of the Nilgiris, we've conserved over 200 species of plants, and used them in various restoration activities throughout the Nilgiris District.
Advocacy
We've conducted advocacy and capacity-building workshops for multiple stakeholders, such as school/college students, the Tamil Nadu Forest Department, indigenous communities, members of the public, and more.
Upstream Ecology Featured in RoundGlass Sustain
"Today, only a meagre 10 per cent of the shola grasslands remain in relatively intact conditions. These patches exist mostly on the edges of the plateau, bearing an existence much like an inhabitant pushed to the boundary wall of his own home. But Vasanth believes that there is an issue much more alarming than the clearing of pristine forests and grasslands for tea-estates and monoculture farming that the Nilgiris are faced with."
Upstream Ecology Featured in Scroll
”If we provide a safe environment for the grasslands and the sholas to develop, after six months to a year, they will be able to take care of themselves. These are still early stages though and while reforesting sholas has had relatively more success, bringing back grasslands is proving to be a tough task. Constant invasion by non-native weeds being only one among many problems."