India is the largest tea-producing country in the world and contributes 33% of the global tea production. Much of this tea comes from the biodiversity hotspots in the northeastern regions and the Western Ghats. Due to market fluctuations, increasing costs of production and lease expiry, many coffee, tea and cardamom plantations have become unviable for active management, resulting in labour unrest. In Thiruvananthapuram division of Kerala alone, 536 ha (55%) of the total 969 ha of the planted area was abandoned.

Large carnivore conservation is akin to a multi-billion dollar riddle. Scores of researchers, activists, bureaucrats, politicians, livestock herders, and hunters each hold a clue to the solution, but cannot seem to be able to agree on how to bring it together. The large carnivores themselves are far from cooperative be it the wolf, tiger or leopard. They are constantly making a meal out of someone’s coveted animal, wild and domestic.