On the Expedition
Make a hands-on contribution to vital climate change research in India's spectacular Western Ghats.
Earthwatch is undertaking a comprehensive research program, assessing the impacts of climate change on the world’s forests so that we might better understand how these habitats are responding to climate change. Join the research team at the Earthwatch India Regional Climate Centre (RCC) in Sirsi and you’ll enjoy the beauty and rich diversity of India’s forests, and learn the many field techniques essential to accurately capturing the data required to investigate the effects of climate change, habitat fragmentation and management systems on forests. Working alongside local research partners - the Indian Institute of Science’s Centre for Sustainable Technologies - Earthwatch volunteers assist scientists, measuring trees and conducting field work that is fundamental to our scientific understanding of how climate change impacts the world’s forests, their ecosystems and the communities which depend upon them.
Meals and Accommodations
Earthwatch volunteers stay at the simple yet comfortable Hotel Panchavati in Sirsi, approximately 25 minutes to one hour drive from the forest research sites. Each twin room is shared by two people on a single-gender basis and has en-suite bathroom, bed linen, ceiling fans and a telephone. Volunteers must though bring their own towel(s).
The restaurant next to the hotel provides a hearty vegetarian breakfast, lunch and dinner. Depending upon the research schedule, breakfast or lunch could be eaten at the hotel, provided in the form of a packed breakfast or lunch, or cooked by the local village community. Please take into consideration that foods are local to the region and that the diet is primarily a vegetarian one. Sandwiches make up a typical packed lunch but hot meals might consist of delicious daals, soups, earthy vegetable dishes, rice and Indian breads.
About the Research Area
The India Regional Climate Centre is based in the fascinating mountain town of Sirsi, in the Uttara Kannada District of Karnataka State, South West India. Embedded within lush green forest, the town sits within the Western Ghats, a mountain range that runs north to south along the western side of India.
One of the world’s true biodiversity hotspots, the region boasts over 5000 species of flowering plants, 139 mammal species, 508 bird species, 179 amphibian species. At least 325 globally threatened species occur in the Western Ghats as the region continues to be subjected to disturbance, non-sustainable extraction and the extensive spread of invasive species.