
Soumya Prasad: Bringing together schools and communities for nature-culture links
Soumya is an applied ecologist working in the Himalayan ecosystems, specializing in science communication to enable behaviour shifts toward sustainable lifestyles. She translates ecological theory into tangible transformations, guiding how we source our food, build our homes, create food forests, restore natural habitats and design adaptation strategies to address ongoing climatic changes.
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Soumya’s project forges cross-linkages among schools, creating structured platforms for students to share biodiversity conservation narratives and sustainable practices. Key elements include collaborative internships within and across schools for promoting co-existence, an annual event that showcases Himalayan biodiversity to re-establish nature-connections among multiple institutions (schools, universities, NGOs, government agencies), policy makers, leaders and urban audiences, and an online blog with student-led documentation of local biodiversity conservation and nature-culture relationships. Through age-tailored courses, she guides children to explore biodiversity in their own school campuses and backyards. This sparks curiosity, evolving from "what" and "how" questions to deeper "why" inquiries. Building on these, the project engages students in defining and tackling local socio-ecological challenges. In rural Himalayas battered by extreme climate events, escalating human-wildlife conflicts, pollinator crises, and erosion of linguistic, culinary, and cultural diversity, Soumya's work rekindles human-nature bonds.
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