For International Women’s Day, we had a candid chat with Divya Mudappa, a scientist at the Nature Conservation Foundation. She opened up about her journey as a restoration ecologist, what motivates her to study rainforests, and her thoughts on being a leader.

Divya’s passion lies in tropical ecology, particularly focusing on rainforests, restoration, and wildlife conservation. She loves exploring the connections between plants and animals, especially when it comes to frugivory (fruit-eating), seed dispersal, and animal behaviour.

With nearly three decades of experience under her belt, Divya has dedicated a lot of time to studying hornbills and small carnivores. She has been busy monitoring nests and diving into ecological research on hornbills in the beautiful Western Ghats.

Studying rainforests and the Malabar grey hornbill

“I’ve been fascinated by forests since my childhood in Kodagu. When I read about the incredible diversity of species in rainforests and how plants and animals interacted in these forests I got even more interested. But I got really hooked after I first visited one of my seniors who was working in the rainforests of the Anamalai Hills,” explains Divya.

Divya’s visit to the Anamalai Hill inspired her to study further and understand the ecology of the rainforests in the Western Ghats. The idea of trying and maintaining all the structures, functions, and living vitality of these ecosystems through ecological restoration fuelled her journey.

“It was during my masters project on the Malabar grey hornbill that I had my first experiences of being alone in a forest and carrying out independent field research. It was life-changing. I had to learn to cope with being in the new environment, often being in remote places, enduring leeches and ticks and all that comes with field work in the forests.”

Being in the rainforest was both fascinating and enriching; every day brought new discoveries, recalls Divya. Her fondest memories involve walking long distances to observe hornbill nests deep within the forest.

Divya particularly enjoyed walking with Ganesh, a Kadar from the village of Erumaiparai near Topslip, who was her guide. His extensive knowledge of the forests allowed Divya to learn about various plants and animals, and observe, listen, and interpret the signs in the forest.

Lessons from restoration projects

For 25 years, Divya and her colleagues have been dedicated to restoring rainforest fragments in the Anamalais region. They have faced the challenges of long-term degradation and have successfully secured cooperation from private plantation companies and the forest department.

“Our key learnings from this work have been humbling. First, if you want to try and restore a degraded ecosystem, you will have to be ready to be rooted to a place and be prepared for a long-term engagement.

Second, even if some aspects of your restoration shows results (such as increase in plant density and species diversity), the recovery is only partial even after 25 years of effort and therefore in the belief that you can restore, you should never allow intact or relatively undisturbed ecosystems to be destroyed.”

Divya emphasises that proper ecological restoration principles should be adopted and adapted to different contexts by more individuals. It is crucial to understand that simply planting trees does not constitute true restoration.

Ensuring equal opportunities for women ecologists

“It is a tough field – physically and emotionally demanding. It can also impact one’s mental health, especially if one is not comfortable being or living alone. And some of the challenges disproportionately affect women, especially women field researchers.”

For instance, women researchers are not taken as seriously as male researchers by many government officials and forest department officers (who are often men), explains Divya.

Officers often prefer speaking to male colleagues rather than even face or directly address a woman. Safety in the field is a major concern. Society, from families to institutions, often views this field as unsuitable for women and fails to provide supportive environments for women researchers.

A message to aspiring conservationists

“One will need to stick it out, face the challenges, work in collaboration and in teams of people who can support each other. Above all, we need to stand together against more powerful forces that are causing the greatest damage to the planet.”

Divya also believes that leadership is not gender dependent. Instead, qualities like empathy, being non-judgemental, and providing support when required are always important, according to Divya.

Banner image: Divya Mudappa, a scientist at the Nature Conservation Foundation. Image courtesy T R Shankar Raman.

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Saumitrashinde Editor

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