PhD student Geethanjali Mariaselvam has started her study at the University of Helsinki in Spring 2020 with partial funding from the Government of India. The research focuses on eliciting people’s perceptions towards the development of payments for ecosystem services (PES) in community conserved Protected Areas in Punjab, India.
The project goal is to find ways to support the local people and conservation in selected community-managed Protected Areas in Punjab, India, so as to restore and maintain their ecosystem services. This will require finding out the perceptions of various stake holders regarding the ecosystem services rendered by Protected Areas; and the perceptions about market-based mechanisms like PES, organic farming and ecotourism to support conservation activities. Geetha's supervisors are Prof. Ritva Toivonen, Adj. Prof. Dalia Damato and Prof. John Sumelius.