Urban centres, home to an extremely high density of humans, are also hubs of biodiversity. As a developing country, India’s human-wildlife interface is increasing, ranging from rural to urban areas. Our aim is to document and understand the various interactions taking place between humans and wildlife in these spaces.
The negative perception of wild animals, including large carnivores, living close to human environments gives rise to management interventions which have proven to worsen conflict scenarios. We engage with major stakeholders involved in such conflict scenarios and recommend interventions and mitigation measures based on scientific research. Our work is focussed on the Mumbai Metropolitan Region, where we aim to instil pride in considering biodiversity a crucial element of urban spaces by involving citizens in conservation.