Dr. Anita Varghese

Dr. Anita Varghese is Director at Keystone Foundation . She leads the biodiversity team at Keystone, which undertakes implementation and action research projects on human-wildlife interactions, apiculture, restoration, and climate change. She is one of the founders of the Nilgiri Natural History Society. She is chair of the Western Ghats Plant Specialist Group of the SSC IUCN, which was established in 2019. She is a member of the Sustainable Use and Livelihoods Specialist Group steering committee (CEESP/SSC- IUCN) and Cycad Specialist Group (SSC/IUCN). She is interested in conservation, specifically on sustainable use, non-timber forest products, long-term population dynamics of harvested species, human-wildlife interactions, invasive plants, cycads, and endangered trees. Her work looks at the factors that mediate the relationship between people and nature, specifically how the goals of conservation and development can be harmonized.