Nayana is a law graduate, working on environmental justice and governance. Her interest lies in supporting legitimacy for community institutions, practices and other arrangements that steward management and conservation of natural resources. She works to advocate for democratising the intersecting spaces between coastal and marine governance and community wellbeing across systems.

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Nayana’s project documents “commoning practices" among small-scale fisher (SSF) communities in Ganjam (Odisha) and Ramanathapuram (Tamil Nadu). It builds on national Small-Scale Fishworkers (SSF) efforts to map spatial territories by capturing cultural expressions of care, food cultures, and relational practices. Through knowledge-sharing networks and rooted engagement platforms, she cultivates SSF leadership to secure governance recognition of community stewardship. The project will set the foundation for formal recognition of these stewardship practices within local governance frameworks. Integrating commons thinking and legal pluralism, her work reframes conservation beyond science-dominated models — emphasizing bio-cultural ties and custodianship in coastal landscapes. This collaborative approach fosters coexistence that honours local realities, bolsters legal legitimacy, and sustains ecological-cultural vitality.

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