About Us

A Few Words

About Us

SWAN & Man (Save Wildlife Atmosphere Nature & Man) is nature and wildlife conservation organization based in Sagara town of Shivamogga district, Karnataka, India. Founded and registered as Non-Government Organization during 2009 under Indian Trusts Act, 1882 the organization is actively engaged in nature, water source, forest and wildlife conservation work in Malenad (Western Ghats) landscape of Karnataka which is recognized as one of the hottest hotspot of biodiversity around the world.

Vision or Cause

SWAN & Man envisions a healthy, prosperous world where all life forms, on land and water thrive along with humans.

Mission

Conserve, recover and restore wildlife and ecosystems through inclusive and effective collaborations, science-based actions and spreading awareness.

Core Values

SWAN & Man is a group of interested, passionate and committed individuals from various streams of the society working for the common cause. We adhere to a high level of morality, ethical standards, and trust in the work we do. We adopt respectful, responsible and community driven approach with neutrality towards politics, religion, and caste.

Meet The Team

Mentor

Late Dr. N D’Souza

Fondly called as Naadi he is a Famous Kannada literati and environmental writer based in Sagar. He is the key person behind initiating and shaping environmental movement of the Sagara region. He inaugurated SWAN & Man on 15th August 2009. He has authored 45 novels in Kannada, most of them based on/having connections with environmental issues and awareness. His novels Mulugade and Dweepa went on becoming texts of Kuvempu and Mangalore universities respectively. Novels Dweepa and Kadina benki were made into movies in Kannada language. Apart from these he has authored more than 200 small stories, stories for children on environment and serials for state magazines. He is honoured with Karnataka Sahitya Academy Award, Swarna Kadambari, Karnataka Rajyotsava Award and Alwas Nudisiri Award.

Vinayaka

Vinayaka is a dynamic, analytical and performance driven professional having great reverence to Flora & Fauna. Through diversified approach and effective collaborations with various government & non-government partners and local communities, Vinayaka constantly endeavours to address complex conservation issues in the central Western Ghats landscape. He is very keen on identifying key bio diverse areas in central Western Ghats region and exploring ways to enhance protection of such areas in collaboration with Government and local communities. He played crucial role in propounding the idea, writing & presenting the proposal and preparing the final notification & maps of the Sharavathi Valley Lion-Tailed Macaque(LTM) Sanctuary. As a result the Sharavathi valley WLS got expanded from 431.23 sq kms to 930.29 sq kms and was renamed as Sharavathi valley Lion-Tailed Macaque sanctuary. He also assisted Karnataka Forest Department by preparing proposal, draft notification and maps of Shettihally Wildlife Sanctuary boundary rationalization and re-organization project. As a result, the Shettihally sanctuary boundary was reorganized to exclude townships, revenue lands and agricultural fields and Bhadra Tiger Reserve was expanded by adding nearly 45 sq kms of reserved forests to ensure direct connectivity with Shettihally Wildlife Sanctuary. Vinayaka is presently a member of IUCN-WCPA. He has served as Honorary Wildlife Warden of Shivamogga district, member of Monitoring Committee of Protected Areas and member of state level expert committees.

Akhilesh Chipli

Akhilesh is an environmental writer and wildlife conservationist from Chipli-Lingadahalli village near Sagara. He is known for his relentless work on environment and wildlife conservation in Shimoga and Uttara Kannada landscape for the past 25 years. He has authored a book named “Jogada siri kattalalli” which highlights importance of and issues associated with wildlife of Shimoga region. He is one of the few environmental writers (with specific focus on wildlife) in Karnataka state. He has written more than 200 articles on climate change, nature and wildlife conservation, and management approaches of Protected Areas which are published in State and National level newspapers. Recognizing his service he is conferred with many awards including Wildlife Service Award by Cricketers for Wildlife Conservation in 2022 and Suvarna Karnataka Parisara Ratna Award in 2022-23. Through SWAN & Man and also as President of Ikkeri Shivappa Nayaka Village Forest Committee he played crucial role in identification and rejuvenation of four heritage lakes in Sagara Taluk.