Qualifications: PhD Conservation science and sustainability studies (Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment, Manipal Academy of Higher Education, 2018)

Email: madhuri.ramesh@dakshin.org

Profile:  Madhuri grew up in the coastal city of Chennai, looking for olive ridley turtles that nested on bustling urban beaches. After years of working in other landscapes such as hill forests and arid grasslands, she chose to do her doctoral dissertation on the political ecology of olive ridley (Lepidochelys olivacea) conservation in Odisha. She continues to work on nature-society relations in inhabited spaces – in addition to the dynamics of conservation and development, she is also interested in sustainable tourism and climate change on the coasts.

Languages: English, Tamil, Hindi, Kadar (fluent); Marwari, Nagamese, Oriya (functional)

Selected publications:

• Ramesh, M. and Namboothri, N. 2018. Maximum sustainable yield: a myth and its manifold effects. Economic & Political Weekly 53: 58-63.
• Bijoor, S., Sharma, D., and Ramesh, M. 2018. Management of Marine Protected Areas in the Andaman Islands: Two case studies. Technical report. Dakshin Foundation, Bangalore. 40 pp.
• Ramesh, M. 2018. Conservation amidst development in a nonequilibrium environment: a study of marine turtles in Odisha, India. PhD dissertation: Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment and Manipal Academy of Higher Education. (http://shodhganga.inflibnet.ac.in:8080/jspui/handle/10603/220164)
• Ramesh, M. and Shanker, K. 2018. From fishe to flagship. Seminar  702: 37-40.
• Muralidharan, R. and Ramesh, M. 2017. Marine protected areas in India: Protection for whom? In: Occupation of the Coast: Blue Economy in India. Programme for Social Action, New Delhi. 102-104.
• Ramesh, M. & Rai, N. 2017. Trading on conservation: A marine protected area as an ecological fix. Marine Policy 82: 25-31.
• Contributor. 2014. InSrinivasulu C, Srinivasulu B and Molur S (Compilers). The status and distribution of reptiles in the Western Ghats, India. CAMP. Wildlife Information Liaison Development Society. Coimbatore. 148 pp.
• Ramesh M & Sankaran R. 2013. Natural history observations on the Indian spiny-tailed lizard Uromastyx hardwickii in the Thar Desert. In: Faunal Heritage of Rajasthan, India. Vol I (Eds: BK Sharma, S Kulshreshtha & AR Rahmani): 295-310. Springer, New York.
• Deepak V., Ramesh M., Bhupathy S. & Vasudevan K. 2011. Indotestudo travancorica (Boulenger, 1907) – Travancore tortoise. In: Conservation Biology of Freshwater Turtles and Tortoises: A compilation project of the IUCN/SSC Tortoise and Freshwater Turtle Specialist Group (Eds: Rhodin et al). Chelonian Research Monographs No.5, pp 054.1-054.6.
• Ramesh M. 2008. Preliminary survey of the Travancore tortoise Indotestudo travancorica from the Indira Gandhi Wildlife Sanctuary, India. Hamadryad 33:118-120.*
• Ramesh M. 2008. Relative abundance and morphometrics of the Travancore tortoise Indotestudo travancorica in the Indira Gandhi Wildlife Sanctuary, southern Western Ghats, India. Chelonian Conservation and Biology 7:108-113.
• Ramesh M. & Ishwar N.M. 2008. Status and distribution of the Indian spiny-tailed lizard Uromastyx hardwickii in the Thar Desert, western Rajasthan. GNAPE Technical Report No T02. Group for Nature Preservation and Education, India. 48pp.

Popular writing:

• Ramesh, M. 2018. Tracking tortoises. Current Conservation 12.3.
• Ramesh, M. and Chandi, M. 2017. Walking is a way of knowing: In a Kadar forest. Tara Books, Chennai.
• Chandi, M. and Ramesh, M. 2017. Speaking to an elephant and other tales from the Kadar. Tara Books, Chennai.
• Ramesh, M. and Muralidharan, M. Turning Turtle. The Hindu (Dec 1, 2016).

Grants:

2017: Edda Sehgal Travel Grant and the Royal Norwegian Embassy Student Exchange Grant
2014-16: The Rufford Foundation (Rufford Small Grant II)
2006-07: The Rufford Foundation (Rufford Small Grant I)
2006-07: Idea Wild
2002-03: Centre for Herpetology, Madras Crocodile Bank Trust