East Coast Conservation Team
About Us
East Coast Conservation Team is a non-profit with a team of Wildlife Biologists, Marine Biologists, Naturalists and Environmentalists working on the conservation of threatened wildlife and habitats in the east coast and eastern ghats of India.
What We Do For Conservation of Wildlife
Conservation of threatened wildlife and habitats through creating awareness, community engagement, field research, collaboration and citizen science
Awareness
We create awareness about wildlife and nature through classroom sessions and through field trips such as biodiversity walks, bird watching and coastal walks
Research
We are working on several wildlife research projects that help directly in conservation of threatened species
Community Involvement
Interacting with local communities and involving them for conservation actions to create win-win situation for communities and wildlife
Citizen Science
training and Involvement of citizens in data collection for conservation of biodiversity around urban areas.
Projects and Accomplishments
We are carrying on various conservation projects including aspects like creating awareness, field research, community involvement and citizen science. Take a peek at the projects that we are carrying on right now.
Smooth Coated Otter Conservation Project
We are working on identifying presence and local threats of Smooth Coated Otters in Northern Andhra Pradesh and work on threat mitigation with community based conservation
Marine Conservation Projects
About 40 percent of shark and ray species are threatened with extinction and are in different categories between Vulnerable and Critically endangered according to IUCN red list. Many marine mammals that are threatened live in our waters. We started documenting their landing, stranding and beaching in Andhra Pradesh to investigate further on their conservation
Intertidal biodiversity of Andhra Pradesh
We started a citizen science initiative to educate and document intertidal biodiversity of Andhra Pradesh. As part of this project, we are arranging regular shore walks and educating participants on using internet based tools to collect and curate data on Intertidal biodiversity.
Citizen Science Projects
We involve regular citizens in bird watching and marine walks and make them collect data related to the flora and fauna of their surroundings. This further helps us in getting more data about wildlife to be conserved.
Accomplishments
Otter Conservation Projects
Established first record of otters in Visakhapatnam district and published a comprehensive report on status in IUCN otter specialist group bulletin
Done education and awareness programs in adjacent villages and schools.
Coordinated with all 12 villages dependent on the Kondakarla lake and managing the lake conservation in collaboration with the forest department and other government stakeholders through "Wetland Management Committee"
Awareness and Citizen Science
Established "Intertidal Biodiversity of Andhra Pradesh" as a citizen science project and conducted more than 25 field sessions on the same educating more than 600 people and involving 30 citizen scientists in the project.
Education and awareness sessions are held outdoors and indoors educating more than 1500 people in total
First record of order Polycladida from east coast of India from our project
First bird watching event in Srikakulam and educating students of rural areas about birdwatching
Recorded 3 new butterfly species in eastern ghats that were only known in north-east India before.
Marine Conservation
Visited 10 coastal villages for rapport building with fisher communities
Conducted workshops on ghost net impacts and upcycling in collaboration with Green Waves and WWF-India in 3 fishermen villages
Surveyed 10 villages and formed an information network.
Recorded 6 dolphin and whale stranding in three districts
Mapping and maintaining beaching and trending records of dolphins and whales after thorough check
Formed a collaboration with Marine mammal research and conservation network of India.
Recorded all 7 instances of bycatch of endangered whale shark and educated locals on not catching the same.
Media mentions about work
Leadership
Sri Chakra Pranav Tamarapalli
President and Program Manager
Marine Biologist and Wildlife Conservationist with a focus on marine and small mammal conservation. Worked on conservation of fishing cats and currently leading the organization
Shekhar Kolipaka
Scientific and community advisor
Dr. Shekhar Kolipaka is a biosocial conservation researcher. He has a broad academic profile with an MSc in Environmental Sciences from the University of Kwa-Zulu Natal University, South Africa and a PhD with multi-disciplinary subjects (Cultural Anthropology and Wildlife Biology) from Leiden University. He also has an MBA from the Symbiosis Institute of Management Studies, India and an MPhil in Natural Resource Management from Indian Institute of Forest Management. Dr. Shekhar Kolipaka research focuses on human-wildlife relationships and finding solutions for human-wildlife coexistence in human-dominated landscapes
Andy Raman
Management and financial Advisor
A serial entrepreneur, who has worked around the globe for large multinational corporations and management consulting firms. Strong focus on Global Program Management, Project Management, HR Business Processes and Global Talent Management.
HariKrishna Varma Dandu
Secretary and Field Conservationist
Naturalist with a focus on bird behavior, ecology and rescue and rehabilitation of both domestic and wild animals
Support Team
Environment Resource Person
Partnering and Supporting organizations
Wilded
Support Us
Volunteer Your Time
Help in conservation through volunteering either from desk or on field. Please get in touch for the same
Make a Donation
Your donations will help us carryout our projects and help more wildlife and communities. All donations are eligible for tax exemption in India through 80G. (Donations accepted only from Indian banks)
Contact East Coast Conservation Team
T11, Last Stop, Bobby NKM Apartments, Apartmets, Pothinamallayya Palem, Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh 530041, India
9901328731