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Sharan
Community Nature Educator | Citizen Science Facilitator
Cohort
3
Rajapalayam, Tamil Nadu, India
Sharan is a community-based nature educator and biodiversity enthusiast based in Rajapalayam (Virudhunagar district, Tamil Nadu). Since August 2022, he has led a sustained public nature education movement through free, themed walks and awareness sessions that help people reconnect with the biodiversity of their homeland. What began as a small group of 3–4 has grown into a community of ~50 members, with a strong volunteer culture and clear pathways for participants to become facilitators. Sharan now mentors focused citizen-research teams (wildflowers, tiger beetles, dragonflies, trees) to strengthen local species documentation and build research capacity at a town scale. His work has received district-level recognition, including the Tamil Nadu Green Champion Award (2023).
Passion Project
Primary Focus Area
Nature Education & Eco-literacy; Citizen Science & Biodiversity Monitoring; Place-based Environmental Education; Environmental Justice & Community Engagement; Urban Ecology & Green Spaces
Special Expertise
Designing and facilitating themed nature walks (80+ events); building local eco-communities and volunteer leadership pathways; developing topic-based facilitation teams (in-house + invited experts); creating research groups and protocols for species monitoring; curating incentives/badges and learning kits; species documentation/checklists (dragonflies, tiger beetles, trees, wildflowers); network-building with scientific institutions (IUCN/ZSI/WII)
Sharan’s passion project focuses on creating a strong community of eco-stewards in Rajapalayam by helping people rediscover the biodiversity of their own surroundings. Since August 2022, he has been organising free, themed nature walks and awareness sessions for the general public, covering topics such as trees, wildflowers, spiders, plastic pollution, dragonflies, and tiger beetles. Over four years, more than 80 events have been conducted, growing a core community of around 50 regular participants. From this group, Sharan has mentored a smaller cohort of highly motivated volunteers who now lead focused citizen-research teams on wildflowers, tiger beetles, dragonflies, and trees. These teams have already contributed new species records to existing local checklists and are preparing for longer-term monitoring projects. The initiative emphasises learning by observation, shared leadership, and sustained engagement, turning curiosity into capability and building a locally rooted culture of conservation.
Communities engaged
Pedagogical Style