Forests of the Andaman Islands

After a workshop in Bangalore on building forest plot networks in India, I visit the Andaman Islands in the company of my colleagues Toby Marthews and Sam Moore, and our hosts Manesh Sankaran and Jayashree Ratnam, of the Nataional Centre for Biological Sciences in Bangalore. They have established forest research plots in this islands. We were hosted at the field station of the Andaman and Nicobars Environment Team (ANET) in Wandoor, an absolutely wonderful place to stay with a welcoming, nature-loving and inspiring field staff.

The islands are a  revelation. In spite of settlement and deforestation in some areas, they are still around 80% covered by lush tropical forests, ringed by magnificent beaches and coral reefs, and home to some of the most isolated indigenous peoples on  Earth. My few days there were just mesmerising.