How turtle conservation led to protection for other species in Odisha

People in Odisha's coastal Ganjam district, home to a world-renowned community conservation effort to protect endangered Olive Ridley turtles, are extending that legacy to conserve other species

All through 2012, Sagar Patro would hit the village roads around his Gunthabandha village in coastal Ganjam district, Odisha, on his motorbike, reliving his childhood days. With neighbour Bijendra Majhi riding pillion, Patro would leave at dawn and travel several kilometres a day to villages in nearby blocks, searching for house sparrows.
 

"Have you seen a gharachatei [house sparrow] here?" Patro would ask the villagers he encountered. Many were baffled by the query and most were dismissive of his quest, but Patro was undeterred, he told IndiaSpend. Soon enough, he and Majhi managed to spot at least five sparrows each