Protecting India's natural habitats and indigenous species of flora and fauna
The Habitats Trust has a special focus on the conservation of lesser-known species and habitats that are threatened, but often neglected and are in urgent need of conservation attention. From working on the conservation of the Indian Pangolin – the world's most trafficked mammal, saving the Great Indian Bustard with fewer than 150 individuals surviving in the wild, or restoring coral reef ecosystems of which approximately 75% are threatened by human activity today, The Habitats Trust has been at the forefront of generating conservation action for these seldom highlighted causes.
The Trust engages stakeholders at every level, those directly involved in on- ground efforts and those affected by the loss of biodiversity, to promote capacity building and knowledge sharing for the common cause of conservation.
We believe the need of the hour is the development of sustainable and replicable source codes for conservation, which are holistic and encompass all the vibrant flora and fauna that comprise a healthy ecosystem.
Technology runs through every facet of our lives, aiding us in attaining our goals. Through the Trust, we seek to engage technology to make conservation efforts more efficient and effective.
India is a megadiverse country, home to a variety of species and landscapes. We aim to disseminate our message of conservation to both urban and rural communities to garner public support to protect our teeming biodiversity.
Chairperson, HCLTech
Trustee, Shiv Nadar Foundation
Founder & Trustee, The Habitats Trust
The logo of The Habitats Trust has two distinct elements – the outline of a human hand along with the ears of an elephant. The combination of these two elements represents the symbiotic relationship between the largest species to walk this planet and humans, perhaps the most powerful species with the capacity to influence crucial ecosystems like never before. Owing to their size, elephants require the largest habitats and in protecting these habitats we humans can secure millions of other species preserving a harmonious ecosystem for generations to come.
Roshni Nadar Malhotra is the Chairperson of HCLTech, a leading global technology organization with a market capitalization of $60 billion, headquartered in India.
Roshni is a Trustee of the Shiv Nadar Foundation. Since its inception, the Shiv Nadar Foundation has invested $1.2 billion in nation building institutions and driving transformational leadership. Roshni is also the Chairperson and driving force behind VidyaGyan, a leadership academy for the economically underprivileged, meritorious, rural students of Uttar Pradesh, and has been working towards nurturing future leaders from rural India who can be catalysts of change for their communities, villages and the nation at large
Passionate about wildlife and conservation, Roshni established The Habitats Trust in 2018. The Foundation aims to work towards protecting India’s natural habitats and its indigenous species with the core mission of creating and conserving sustainable ecosystems through strategic partnerships and collaborations with all stakeholders, at every level.
Roshni is a member of the Dean’s Advisory Council at the MIT School of Engineering, USA and also a member of the Kellogg School of Management Executive Board for Asia. She serves on the board of directors of US-India Strategic Partnership Forum (USISPF) and is on the global board of directors of The Nature Conservancy (TNC). She is also an independent director on the board of the HDFC Asset Management Company.
In recognition of her outstanding work both in business and in philanthropy, Roshni has received several honors and accolades. France’s highest civilian award Chevalier de la Légion d’Honneur (Knight of the Legion of Honour) has been conferred on her in 2024.
In 2023, she was featured for the seventh consecutive year in ‘The World's 100 Most Powerful Women’ list, compiled and released by Forbes.
Since 2019, she has been producing an episode series on the most endangered wildlife species in India - ‘On The Brink’. The episodes on Bats and Gharials have been recipients of two National Film Awards in the category of science & environment. Roshni has also produced a children’s film, ‘Halkaa’, based on the unique journey of a slum child battling the issue of open defecation.
Roshni holds an undergraduate degree in Communications from Northwestern University and a MBA from the Kellogg School of Management. At Kellogg, she was awarded the Dean’s Distinguished Service Award. In 2023, Roshni was conferred with the Schaffner Award by Kellogg for her contribution to the society. Roshni was conferred with Lewis Institute Community Changemaker Award by Babson College in 2017.
Rushikesh heads The Habitats Trust, and has over 20 years of experience in conservation of ecosystems and species. He has a post-graduation in environmental science, coupled with few professional courses from some of the top global universities. He has also been on several Government and Supreme Court committees for conservation.
He brings with him established expertise in sustainable ecosystems, species conservation, organisational stewardship, community development and awareness. He has extensive understanding of achieving ecological and social impact with expertise in strategy development, program design, program management, grants management, capacity development, coordination, evaluations, and collaborations for large complex projects and has led several major projects for sustainable habitats and endangered species. He conceptualised and developed an evidence based policy think tank called Conservation Behaviour, which is first of its kind in India. It combines conservation biology, ecology, economics, psychology, developmental science, and data analytics to provide policy actionables through discussion papers and advocacy.
Rushikesh has contributed to over 70 publications in scientific journals, book, magazines, newspapers, etc. and has also given numerous talks on National and International forums. He is also an advisor and mentor to National, International organisations and individuals. He is a mentor at the global WILD Coalition 2020.
In his last assignment, he was associated with Wildlife Conservation Trust in the capacity of a Senior Conservationist. He also brings with him professional experience with organisations like Bombay Natural History Society, Lavasa, Eco Value, and Aireff DeTox Incineration Ltd.
Rushikesh is born & brought up in Mumbai and is married to Ira Bajpai. He is a certified scuba diver, likes surfing and exploring marine environments, forests, and grasslands. He enjoys teaching in his spare time for which he was engaged as visiting faculty for the Master’s programme in Sustainable Development & Environmental Management at University of Mumbai. He loves art, music and theatre, and also enjoys sports.
Shikhar serves as the CEO & Vice Chairman of HCL Healthcare, one of India’s largest corporate health solutions firms, providing end-to-end healthcare solutions with a vision to make corporate India a healthier place. Today, HCL Healthcare is delivering personalized, sustainable and managed care health solutions to organizations across sectors while serving more than 500,000 customers annually across India.
He is a Director of HCL Corporation, the holdco for HCL’s operating companies and a Director on the HCLTech board.
A trustee at the Shiv Nadar Foundation, he helps shape its vision of nation-building through transformational leadership. He is the Chairman of Shiv Nadar School, which is amongst the most coveted educational institutions in Delhi-NCR and Chennai, and the Chancellor of Shiv Nadar Institution of Eminence, India’s youngest and the only Private University in Uttar Pradesh to be granted the prestigious status of 'Institution of Eminence Deemed to be University (IoE) by Govt. of India. Today, SNIoE is one of the leading private universities in the country acknowledged for being on an accelerated path to emerge as a world-class research-based, multidisciplinary institution.
Committed to wildlife and conservation, Shikhar co-founded The Habitats Trust in 2018 with his wife Roshni Nadar Malhotra. He is the Trustee of the Habitats Trust which is empowering on-ground conservationists to achieve its vision of securing India’s natural habitats and their indigenous species.
His early lessons as an entrepreneur were learnt at his family business and were later sharpened at Babson College in the US, with a specialization in entrepreneurship. He is also a member of the Global Advisory board of Babson College.
He is a sports aficionado, especially for football and cycling.
Kashish Madan is a Project Officer with The Habitats Trust (THT) since 2019. He is involved in the development of THT’s on-ground and Technology for Conservation initiatives. He is also a part of the strategic team, and seeks to integrate conservation management and policy with theories from the field of ecology.
He completed his Master’s degree in Biodiversity & Conservation and has worked with organisations like Wildlife Protection Society of India and Tiger Watch on various issues like wildlife crime, human-wildlife interactions, and wetland conservation and management. He finds spiders especially fascinating, and enjoys observing them along with other lesser-known arthropods in urban ecosystems.
Sunaina manages The Habitats Trust (THT) Grants programme, and helps lead the project at every stage. Her role includes strategising the THT Grants execution process, and regularly engaging with various stakeholders and partners that comprise the grants network.
She has previously worked closely with Belinda Wright, renowned conservationist and founder of the Wildlife Protection Society of India (WPSI). In her role as Project Officer at WPSI, she was responsible for overseeing community driven programs across India, engaging with various donors across the globe and creating proposals and reports for project funders. Prior to that, she had also undertaken several conservation-based projects with Wildlife SOS and Bannerghatta National Park, Bengaluru. After a successful stint in writing with a reputed media company, she joined The Habitats Trust in 2020.
In her free time, Sunaina volunteers with animal welfare NGOs across Delhi-NCR, helping them with street dog adoption drives, ABC programmes and foster care for abandoned or sick animals.
Vaishali works as the Communications and Outreach Coordinator for The Habitats Trust, where she develops outreach initiatives to create awareness about India’s threatened but lesser-known wildlife and habitats. She is passionate about communicating the message of conservation, and has written on wildlife and environmental issues for various publications like The Hindu, The Wire, Deccan Herald, LiveMint, Conservation India, Sanctuary Asia and others.
She previously worked on media and outreach with Wildlife Conservation Society, India, and later completed her M.Sc. in Biodiversity, Conservation and Management from University of Oxford as a Felix Scholar. She is fascinated by wildlife and nature thriving in urban spaces, and also enjoys reading books about nature, ranging from natural history to fiction and children’s literature.
Kaushik is a wildlife biologist by training who is deeply interested in avian ecology. He joined The Habitats Trust as Executive - On-ground Projects. His work involves designing and carrying out projects for species and landscapes in need of conservation efforts. He finished his master's degree in Wildlife Biology and Conservation at National Centre for Biological Sciences, Bangalore, where his research focussed on studying owls in north-east India.
For his last assignment, he was involved in training local communities in systematic bird monitoring in Nagaland, Chhattisgarh. as a part of Bird Count India. He is passionate about birding and is interested in exploring how birds adapt to changing land-uses, and if their co-existence with people is possible. When not birding, he likes to paint and write about his adventures in the field.
Abhishek works at The Habitats Trust as Deputy Manager - Marine Programme and works on developing and executing projects focussed on marine conservation. He has a Masters in marine biology and has been a part of several marine ecological research, conservation, outreach and education projects. He started out in the field of cetacean research from a fisheries interactions perspective, spending long days on active fishing boats, where he ended up learning a lot beyond what he set out to study. His interests have since diversified to fisheries research, coral reef studies on the mainland west coast of India, and the use of traditional & local ecological knowledge and citizen science to document little-known marine ecosystems. He is a firm believer in the crucial role that coastal communities of all sorts play in meaningful and lasting marine conservation.
Abhishek has previously worked with WWF-India's marine programme and with Coastal Conservation Foundation, besides working independently as well. In 2017, he also co-founded the Marine Life of Mumbai initiative, a volunteer-led community effort to explore coastal biodiversity within Mumbai's urban limits. He also enjoys participating in marine conservation outreach and education.
Abhishek is from Mumbai, and has worked in different locations on the west coast of India. He is a birdwatcher, but also calls himself a 'backyard explorer' with an interest in watching just about all kinds of creatures, especially the ones close to home. He also enjoys cooking, drawing, long walks, old books, and comics.
Anup Bokkasa is a wildlife biologist with varied interests including vertebrate ecology, movement and landscape ecology, conservation practice and citizen science. He has experience working in different landscapes across India and with multiple teams. He has established and managed field stations and enjoys working with small and local teams and helping build their capacities. At The Habitats Trust, Anup joined as Deputy Manager - Conservation, and will be responsible for the On-ground Projects and will oversee planning and implementation of field projects and collaborations with other organizations working on ground. Through his work, he hopes to build consensus for conservation progress that does not leave the marginalized human and wildlife communities behind. In his free time, he enjoys singing cringe songs, playing chess, cooking south Indian food and day-dreaming about watching all the vertebrate species on the planet in-situ.
Farai is an ecologist with a passion for creepy crawlies and everything under water. He is a certified Rescue Diver and has completed his Master’s in Wildlife Biology and Conservation from the National Centre for Biological Sciences, Bangalore, where he studied coral reef dynamics in the Lakshadweep for his dissertation. That experience cemented his love for marine biodiversity. He then moved back home, to Goa, where he has been closely associated with the Save Mollem campaign, a citizens led movement that advocates for environmental preservation through science and art.
Farai joined the Habitats trust as an Executive in the Marine Program. As part of the team, he will be designing, planning and executing research and conservation projects across India’s understudied coastline. In his free time, you will often find him digging into a nice book on the beach or trekking around the Western Ghats in search of a new waterfall.
Santhosh comes from a town known for the mysterious cases of children killed by wolves, he was drawn to wildlife conservation after witnessing a pangolin trade incident. What started as a volunteering stint in wildlife awareness activities a decade back became a full-time involvement over the years in wildlife research and conservation activities. He has been part of the Nature Conservation Foundation’s IUCN-ITHCP project in southern India where he contributed to outreach, applied conservation, and wildlife corridor monitoring projects. Santhosh has worked closely with the Karnataka Forest Department and local communities towards conservation of several critical habitats and species.
Santhosh has received the coveted Chevening Leadership scholarship, He has a Masters in Applied Ecology and Conservation from the University of East Anglia and now leads the team for Technology for Conservation. He is an engineer who has worked on safety-critical systems for over a decade, he strongly believes that technology can assist and speed up wildlife research and conservation.
Maxim is a Marine Geologist by training, with a keen interest in Citizen Science. He was born and brought up in Kasaragod, Kerala and his field of interest and work have been largely focused on birds and other wildlife. Working on diverse ornithological projects and travelling to explore citizen science initiatives in different parts of India instigated his interest and helped him gain practical knowledge in the field. While working, he enjoyed meeting new people and learning from their unique experiences. In 2015, he was introduced to the 'eBird' platform, where he began to contribute to the conservation of birds through citizen science-based data collection. He was impressed by the quantity and extent of data that could be gathered through citizen science platforms, which in turn inspired him to tap through the power of the citizen science network.
Maxim is the founder of 'Kasaragod Birders team' and has coordinated the 'Kasaragod Bird Atlas’, which is a part of the Kerala Bird Atlas project. After completing his M.Sc., he worked as a project assistant at the Nature Conservation Foundation (NCF). He interned at the Wildlife Institute of India (WII) on the Great Indian Bustard project and at the Salim Ali Centre for Ornithology and Natural History (SACON) on a human-wildlife conflict project. When he is not observing birds or probing data, he loves to talk to people, write blog articles and travel around.
Maxim has joined The Habitats Trust as Executive - On-ground Projects.
Deepika works as the Senior Executive - Marine Programme and is responsible for executing marine conservation projects across India’s coastline. She has had a lifelong interest in wildlife and natural resource use which bolstered through an interdisciplinary education in BSc (Hons) Botany and MA in Environment and Development. Deepika steered towards marine conservation in 2018, when she got the opportunity to visit Andaman and Nicobar Islands to conduct action research on management of Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) and tourism with Dakshin Foundation. Since then, she has worked on diverse issues including safeguarding threatened marine life and management of MPAs across India’s coastline with WCS-India and addressing illegal marine wildlife trade with WWF-India. Outside of work, Deepika is an avid reader, fitness enthusiast and enjoys going on walks while keeping an eye out for any wildlife.
Ninad Bhosale has joined The Habitats Trust as Associate Manager - Grants and will be helping the team with streamlining the Grants programme. Before this, he worked as a Project Associate with Food and Land Use Coalition (FOLU India) programme with World Resources India where he worked as a coordinator to facilitate the tasks of the team to promote sustainable regenerative agriculture.
Ninad holds a Masters degree in Biodiversity Wildlife Conservation and Management and Bachelors degree in zoology from the University of Mumbai. In the past, he has worked with Wildlife Conservation Trust where he was a part of various programs such as Human-Wildlife Conflict Resolution, Conservation Dogs Unit and Conservation Communications.
He loves nature walks, travelling to the rural areas of the country and clicking photos and videos of landscapes and wildlife.
Nishant has been working in the field of Ecology, Environment, and Education for the last 10 years, with a focus on Ecological Restoration. He would say Eco Restoration brings together his love for plants, his interest in spending time outdoors, and his goal to try and enable people and nature to harmonize. He holds an MSc in Biology and a BE in electronics from BITS Pilani and has experience in research as well as on-ground work.
At The Habitats Trust, Nishant joined as Deputy Manager - Ecological Restoration, where he hopes to, along with the team, guide large-scale restoration projects in India towards better ecological and social integrity.
Subhadra is a seasoned professional with a diverse background and a relentless commitment to excellence. With over 16 years of enriching experience in the IT industry, Subhadra brings a wealth of knowledge spanning across Consumer Electronics, Semiconductors, and IoT sectors. Subhadra has also devoted 5.5 years to NGOs, focusing on education and nature conservation initiatives. Notably, she was part of the pioneering cohort of Teach for India fellows, demonstrating her profound dedication to shaping a brighter future through education. During her tenure at the Nature Conservation Foundation, where she spent 3.5 years, Subhadra supported education and public engagement projects, including the coordination of efforts towards producing the "State of India's Birds 2023" report.
Beyond her professional pursuits, Subhadra is an ardent birder and nature enthusiast. She finds solace in the serenity of bird watching, and her passion extends to observing butterflies and moths in their natural habitats. When she's not immersed in the wonders of nature, you'll find her lost in the pages of fiction, engaging in friendly battles over board games, or joyfully singing songs (albeit slightly off-key!).
Through the pursuit of a masters degree in Wildlife Biology & Conservation and a doctoral degree in Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, Robin Abraham has been on a journey figuring out the Indian continent. He has been a research team leader for over a decade now, where his forte has been on freshwater ecosystems as well as on fishes and amphibians. He also has a penchant for patient natural history documentation which have led to unravelling previously unknown and fascinating animal behavior, some of which have been disseminated through peer-reviewed publications.
Robin’s research has demonstrated that many protected areas hardly represent much imperiled freshwater ecosystems, which is a cause for concern. His various expeditions and collaborations have also resulted in the discovery and descriptions of 12 species and 3 genera of amphibians new to science from India, Malaysia, Singapore, Philippines and Madagascar. In the past, he has served as consultant for state & union forest and wildlife departments, and for global nature conservation bodies. At The Habitats Trust, Robin will be developing and leading an ecological restoration program.
Rutuja did a Master’s course in Environmental Science from the University Pune and explored the carbon stocks in mixed land use types and butterflies in the Southern Western Ghats. It piqued her interest in understanding the communication between organizations and communities. The keenness to get closer to understanding communication and conservation made her pursue a second Master’s degree at the University of Kent in Conservation Project Management. She then worked as a coordinator of Turtle Action Group (TAG), India with Dakshin foundation. The curiosity to understand the associations between people and their environments led her to design an education program for communities living outside protected areas in the Chandrapur district of Maharashtra while working with WCT India. To work with teams that work on a large scale to build capacities of nature educators while creating content, she joined Nature Conservation Foundation. At THT she will be handling education initiatives with Shiv Nadar Schools, Shiv Nadar University, and other institutions, and her major role will be to develop the environmental conscience in students in collaboration with experts from the field of conservation and ecology.
Lubna is a multimedia journalist and editor who has worked in organisations like National Geographic Traveller India and Brut India. With a mixed bag of interviews and stories, Lubna has had the opportunity to cover a wide range of topics, from travel, human interest, to Bollywood. In that, she has stood under the dancing Northern Lights in Finland, spoken to the daughter of a vegetable vendor who became a judge, and interviewed actor Ranbir Kapoor.
Her work allowed her to understand formats meant for news cycles as well as long form storytelling meant for magazines. She has been part of social media strategy and website formation teams, edited stories, written scripts and produced videos, and oddly enough, enjoyed making Excel sheets. Lubna explored parts of India by road as part of the formative team for a tech-travel startup called Easy Roads, and built all of its content.
She trusts in the magic of words, has written for various mediums, and believes that the next story is always around the corner. When her nose is not spine-deep in a book, it's often scenting food or sniffing out the next adventure. She hopes to tell the story of The Habitats Trust in a way that is engaging and informative to audiences.
Kishore is a mechanical engineer with a passion for solving real-world problems, particularly in the area of conservation. He has worked with organizations like Nature Conservation Foundation, Indian Institute of Science and SELCO Foundation, developing and implementing technologies to prevent crop depredation by elephants and renewable energy-based livelihood solutions. Kishore has also explored tech interventions for research and conservation in high altitude landscapes with Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER-Tirupati). At The Habitats Trust, he works with the Technology for Conservation team as an Associate Manager. Besides work, Kishore enjoys running, hiking, and camping.
Abigith is an ecologist passionate about working at the intersection of conservation and technology. He previously worked with organisations such as Auroville Botanical Gardens on mapping sacred groves and ecological restoration projects. He has also briefly worked with the Environmental Defence Fund and GIZ on agroforestry and soil rehabilitation projects, respectively, focusing on the quantification of project outcomes using GIS.
Prior to pursuing his Master's in Ecology, he worked in renewable energy and climate mitigation projects with the World Institute of Sustainable Energy in Maharashtra and for the Bhutan government. He is a licensed drone pilot and outside of work, Abigith enjoys reading, travelling, and exploring nature.
At The Habitats Trust, he works as Deputy Manager with the Technology for Conservation team.
Kanak Angirish is leading Communication and Outreach at THT. She’s a strategic thinker, a creative storyteller, and a global advocate.
Her articles have been featured in prestigious publications like The Wall Street Journal, The Hindu, ET, Financial Times, TOI covering a wide range of topics from biofuels to education reform.
Recognized as a thought leader, Kanak has collaborated closely with NITI Aayog to shape India’s national biofuels policy, fostering sustainable energy initiatives in India. Her global impact extends beyond India’s borders. She has served as an advisor to the Embassy of Cote d’ Ivoire’s (West Africa), representation at COP 20 for the UN’s water SDG with Novozymes South Asia Pvt. Ltd, (Denmark), and her contributions to women’s education at the Indo-Arab league.
Kanak’s unique blend of strategic thinking and artistic sensibilities empowers her to communicate complex ideas in a compelling and accessible manner to a diverse audience. Her ability to connect with people on a personal level has made her a sought-after voice in the field of public relations, policy advocacy, and strategic communication.
Beyond her professional endeavours, Kanak is an accomplished author, a globe-trotting enthusiast who finds inspiration in diverse cultures and landscapes. Her hobbies include oil & knife painting, and interior designing.
Devyani is a conservation social scientist with a passion for understanding the factors that drive successful conservation outcomes. Devyani has contributed to several national and international projects, collaborating with organizations such as WWF India, Tiger Watch, the U.S. National Park Service, and the National Recreation and Parks Association (USA) to explore various aspects of this complex issue. She has joined the On-ground Projects team as an Associate Manager and is eager to contribute to THT’s mission of inclusive biodiversity conservation. In her free time, when not acting as her dog’s emotional-support human, Devyani enjoys true-crime podcasts and documentaries, experimenting with photography, art, and baking, and embracing her admittedly questionable taste in music.