Conservation Behavioural Science

The Conservation Behavioural Science (CBS) programme works towards the conservation of the natural world through scientific inquiry into peoples' thoughts, feelings and behaviour. What does this do? It involves acquiring an in-depth understanding of the intertwined reciprocity between humans and the rest of nature.

This puts well-being at the core of this programme. CBS aims to work towards the conservation of intact ecosystems and natural resources, but also towards the well-being and quality of life of humans and other species. It uses methods from rapid ethnography to laboratory experiments, from in-depth interviews to large field surveys to broaden the understanding of communities that live around ecosystems.

We aim to design interventions that are scalable, self-sustainable, and have the systems to deal with challenges and problems arising from the environment. Our teams work with local communities, forest departments, scientists, and policy-makers to develop multi-pronged solutions that include human behaviour, socio-economic contexts, and mental-health triggers to arrive at longer-term impact.

Currently, these are the projects that the team is involved in:

• Working with the Forest Department in Dudhwa-Pilibhit Landscape in 3 out of 4 tiger reserves to assess and help resolve the impact of challenging environments on frontline forest staff. Additionally, building a tool to map the green-mindedness of people.
• Developing instruments for understanding communities' conservation mindedness.
• Assessing pro-environment behaviour to help restore the laterite plateau in Ratnagiri, Terai landscape, west coast, and coral reefs in Lakshadweep.

More about our individual projects coming soon. Watch this space.