SUJÁN Conservation

Working with our local communities to ensure that they not only benefit from the existence of SUJÁN but thrive because of it is vital to our operations. We have successfully launched a completely free Mobile Medical Primary Health Care service that operates 6 days a week, in our 5 villages neighbouring SUJÁN JAWAI. We have donated a fully equipped medical van and with it provide, a driver, a doctor & nurse and a supply of medicines, to give free primary health care to our local communities. We have treated over 5982 patients since October 2018, of which 51% of these are women. Villagers no longer have to travel long distances to seek basic medical help and, as has traditionally been custom in India, medicines are being delivered to their door. Consisting of just 10 seasonal tents, our guest conservation levy enables this van to operate throughout the year. That's impact!

We recognise that access to quality early education provides a foundation for success in later life, and also goes hand in hand with learning more about conservation and the need to protect our delicate ecosystems. We believe, education is the most powerful tool which can be used to change the world. We have adopted 13 schools, across Rajasthan, impacting over 5670 students. The communities close to our camps, play a key role in helping us to achieve our conservation goals, so improving the quality of primary education is key.

SUJÁN is a proud partner and primary donor to the Village Wildlife Volunteer Programme. It is run by Tiger Watch, with assistance from the Forest Department, Government of Rajasthan. It is focused on providing surveillance, monitoring, anti-poaching, and scientific data collection. The volunteers are local villagers, cattle herders and farmers, who, with the help of latest technology such as smartphone and camera traps, are monitoring wildlife and thus playing a crucial role in the conservation mission.

Currently our rewilding programme at SUJÁN JAWAI focuses on returning farmland back to wilderness. Every year, just before the arrival of the monsoon rains to Rajasthan, our team at SUJÁN JAWAI get planting! Land that we have put under conservation, that has been previously been used by local farmers for agriculture, is rehabilitated and reforested by our team, with appropriate local vegetation either grown at our seed bank or purchased from our neighbouring villages. Over the years we have established an on-site nursery at camp that holds a number of different indigenous plants, wild grasses and trees. By working with our local communities to restore and maintain the biological integrity of the JAWAI landscape in a sustainable manner, we are fulfilling our purpose to preserve and protect our precious wilderness & all that inhabits it for future generations.

It was half a century ago that our family first recorded the stirring music of the Manganiyars. The folk music of the Manganiyar tribe embodies the spirit of not only Jaisalmer but of a much deeper, musical tradition of Rajasthan. Through SUJÁN they have found a ready system of patronage as we dedicate ourselves to preserving their musical tradition.

Providing health care and sanitation services are a critical component of what we do at SUJÁN JAWAI as well. Sanitation workers are permanently employed on a regular salary to service sanitation requirements of 1250 households in the area. This figure is already slated to double in the forthcoming year. Additionally, successive veterinarian camps have ensured that 3507 cattle from 4 different villages have inoculated and treated for preventive diseases by our medical teams around SUJÁN JAWAI.