Photo credits: Anand M. O., Praveen Muraleedharan, Aathira Perinchery

Scientists, for the first time ever, are asking the Indian public what they should be studying. What, according to the public, are the most important questions to ask about the natural world - the plants, animals, habitats and the people that interact with them? There are a multitude of threats that these systems face in India and the public's opinion is imperative. This has prompted fifteen scientists across seven organisations to come up with a nationwide internet survey: The Horizon Scanning India. This simple two-stage questionnaire aims to pinpoint priority areas of future research that Indians think are necessary to protect biodiversity, ecosystems and natural assets across India.

In the first stage of the project launched on 2^nd September 2011, a participant can suggest anywhere between one to ten questions that he or she thinks Indian research should answer. Basic information like age, gender, education and occupation of each participant are also asked so that scientists can check if they have reached out to a broad cross-section of the community. Entries for this stage can be submitted at https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/X9HVDYK till 31^st December 2011.

In the second stage, scientists will compile the most commonly asked questions of the first stage. These will be mailed to participants who will be asked to rank the importance of each question on this list. This information will then be analysed by the scientists to see which questions are of utmost priority for the Indian public.

This method of using surveys to obtain information is not new. The process of searching for trends (in the case of the Horizon Scanning India initiative, opinions) that could inform policy and management in any field is called horizon scanning. A familiar tool in business management, horizon scans did not figure too prominently in ecological or conservation research until 2006. Biologist William Sutherland, then at the University of East Anglia in the United Kingdom (UK) and his colleagues identified the hundred most important questions of ecological significance which were most pertinent to policy in the UK using this method. They obtained feedback from policy makers, their advisors, lobbyists and scientists for this study. But this is where the UK survey and the Horizon Scanning India project differ: the latter is not restricted to certain experts or sections of the society. If they can access the internet, Indians from all walks of life can take part.

This very aspect of the survey however, could be its biggest challenge. Scientists will need a lot of responses to work with. It is vital, therefore, that as many people pitch in by taking part in the survey: the more, the better.

But why do we need such a survey in the first place? "It's very simply that this is a large country with a lot of different and complex environmental and ecological issues. But the community of scientists studying them is small and they typically tend to focus on areas they're specialised in. An attempt such as this one to scale up to the national level and get the views of a wide array of people should enable a much broader view of issues that need to be prioritised, and may also throw up issues that may have been overlooked," says Jayashree Ratnam, post-doctoral fellow at the National Centre for Biological Sciences, Bangalore and part of the initiative.

And why are these researchers asking for the public's opinion - something scientists hardly ever do? "The environment is something that is certainly not the exclusive province of the ecologists who try to understand it, the policy makers who deliberate on laws and policies, or the managers who try to protect it. I think the biodiversity and its conservation is something that concerns every citizen," says M. D. Madhusudhan, a scientist at the Nature Conservation Foundation, Mysore, who has been involved with the project. "As a community of scientists we have a tremendous amount to learn because we aren't exactly great at reaching out to people. This survey is a small attempt to engage a wider public constituency. We really want to hear a wide range of voices," he adds.

And those voices could prove to be crucial. "If successful, the results of this initiative will enable us to develop a set of 'most important issues' regarding biodiversity and natural resource conservation for the Indian region - which could serve as a valuable guideline for both researchers and policy makers alike," says Mahesh Sankaran, faculty at the National Centre for Biological Sciences. William Sutherland and his team's work in the UK played a huge role in establishing a Scientific Advisory Board for a Joint Industry Programme that seeks to better understand the rationale for current policies on offshore decommissioning. Apart from this, Sutherland and his colleagues have also looked at questions of global importance in ecology and agriculture recently. This methodology has been adopted in several regions including Canada, Israel, the Alps, Australia, and by several industries like the water industry, business requirements from ecology, forestry, marine sciences and mineralogy.

"I think the survey is going to be very useful. There are a lot of issues that need more attention, many of public concern than just esoteric ones," says Ghazala Shahabuddin, Associate Professor at the School of Human Ecology in Ambedkar University, New Delhi. "Getting the public's opinion is important - there are a lot of informed people who have very important questions, even some that might leave you completely foxed."

But the survey being restricted to the internet alone is a potential drawback. Many of the people who have the most direct interactions with nature cannot access the Net. "I've found that villagers often come up with really important issues that nobody's studying. They might be very mundane in terms of theoretical ecology, but important to them," says Shahabuddin. "At a later stage when there are more resources and better connectivity with local NGOs who can reach out to their respective constituencies, such grassroot-level organisations can be approached to sample a few households. But just reaching out to the urban people itself is a big task. And because it is internet-based, it might attract a lot of young people: putting it on Facebook, for instance."

Despite this participation from the Indian public, the role of experts will still be crucial for the survey. "These surveys are very successful in bringing together a wide range of people from a number of organisations to determine which issues are the most effective. The initial stage then ideally requires some assessment of the priority issues to produce the final list," says William Sutherland about the Horizon Scanning India initiative.

A cross-governmental research collaboration, the UK India Education and Research Initiative (UKIERI) funds the Horizon Scanning India initiative. The institutes and organisations collaborating on the project include the National Centre for Biological Sciences (Bangalore), the Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment (Bangalore), the Nature Conservation Foundation (Mysore), the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (Pune), the Indian Institute of Science (Bangalore), the Centre for Wildlife Studies (Bangalore) and the University of Leeds (United Kingdom).

Details of the survey can be accessed online at http://www.ncbs.res.in/HorizonScanningIndia.html.