Ashish Kothari
Ashish Kothari began working on environment and development issues in his school days in 1978-79, as one of the founders of Kalpavriksh, an Indian environmental NGO. He coordinates Kalpavriksh's programme on Alternatives.
Neema Pathak Broome
Neema Pathak Broome, has studied environmental science and completed a post graduate diploma in wildlife management. She is a member of Kalpavriksh, coordinating the Conservation and Livelihoods programme.
Neeraj Vagholikar
Neeraj Vagholikar has been a member of Kalpavriksh since December 1998. Formally trained as a mechanical engineer, Neeraj moved on to work on environmental policy issues since 1996. From 1996 – 1998 he worked as Conservation Officer with the Save Nature Movement, a campaigning platform operating in association with wildlife magazine, Sanctuary Asia.
Sharmila Deo
Sharmila Deo joined Kalpavriksh in 2004. For the first 3 years, she was the administration coordinator. Being interested in education issues, she supported the education work of Kalpavriksh right from the beginning
Kanchi Kohli
Kanchi Kohli is a researcher working on environment, forest and biodiversity governance in India. Her work explores the links between law, industrialization and environment justice. In Kalpavriksh she is associated with tracking the implementation of the biodiversity regulation in India. She has individually and in teams authored several publications, including the recent book Business Interests and the Environmental Crisis, published by SAGE.
Meenal Tatpati
Meenal Tatpati worked as an intern with Kalpavriksh while pursuing her Masters in Environmental Sciences in the Savitribai Phule Pune University. She became a full time member in 2013 and has been a part of the Conservation and Livelihoods team since. She has primarily been involved in research and advocacy on the Forest Rights Act with a particular focus on its implementation during forest clearance processes and in protected areas. In the past, she has coordinated the national Community Forest Rights-Learning and Advocacy Process and carried on a study to document worldviews of the Dongria Kond community in Odisha on development, and is currently involved with action research with the Raika community in Rajasthan and observes the Van Gujjars in Uttarakhand. Her current interests lie in the areas of law and jurisprudence of forests in India, pastoralism studies, indigenous and local worldviews, developmental projects, protected areas and forest rights. She loves food, reading, taking long walks without an agenda, and learning new languages. She's developing an interest in photography and is learning to not take herself too seriously.
Milind Wani
Milind Wani is based in Pune. He spent 20 years in the IT sector before joining Kalpavriksh. He is the programme coordinator for Kalpavriksh’s Documentation and Outreach center, and edits its newsletter entitled People in Conservation. He can be reached at [email protected].
Pankaj Sekhsaria
Pankaj Sekhsaria is a member of the environmental action group, Kalpavriksh where he works on issues of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands and also edits the bi-monthly newsletter, the Protected Area Update. He is a freelance journalist, photographer and author, most recently, of 'Islands in flux - the Andaman and Nicobar Story' (HarperCollins India 2017) and 'The Last Wave – an island novel' (HarperCollins India 2014). He has authored/edited three other, non-fiction books, two of which are based in the A&N Islands
Prabhakar Rao
Prabhakar Rao has been a member of Kalpavriksh (KV) for many years. He has an M-Phil and PhD from Delhi University in the area of organizational behaviour. His interests are in the area of legal framework of laws relating to nature and wildlife. He is also interested in issues relating to management of PAs. He has been coordinating the urban ecology work in KV Delhi.
Pradeep Chavan
Pradeep Chavan has been working with Kalpavriksh since August 2008. He has a Master’s degree in English Literature from Pune University and a Diploma in Social Work from Tilak Maharashtra Vidyapith, Pune. His major interest areas are conservation, livelihood sustenance, conservation education & cultural revival through the grass root interventions. He has been directly engaged on the ground towards mobilising local communities (particularly women and youth) towards inclusive and community based biodiversity management and governance in 6 villages in and around the Bhimashankar Wildlife Sanctuary, Pune (MS).
Radhika Mulay
Radhika Mulay joined Kalpavriksh in March 2016 to work with the Vikalp Sangam process. She is part of the ACKNOWL-EJ project which focuses on Transformations and Alternatives, and is involved in ‘Kachchh Crafts Assessment of Transformation’ case study. She has a Master's degree in Water Science, Policy and Management and is a student of Bharatnatyam and Contemporary dance form
Sanjay Sondhi
Sanjay Sondhi is a Dehradun-based naturalist with a keen interest in writing and photography. He is a member of Kalpavriksh and Founder Trustee, TITLI TRUST. He works primarily in western and eastern Himalayas supporting grass-root conservation, eco-tourism and conservation education focussing on birds, butterflies, moths and herpetofauna.
Seema Bhatt
Seema Bhatt is an independent consultant working on issues related to biodiversity, climate change and ecotourism in Asia. Seema is a graduate from the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies. She worked as a Senior Programme Officer with WWF India on its McArthur Foundation supported Biodiversity ‘Hotspots’ Conservation Programme.
Shiba Desor
Shiba Desor joined Kalpavriksh's Conservation and Livelihoods team in 2011 after a Masters' degree in Environmental Studies. Between 2011 and 13, she was involved in advocacy and research related to governance of community forest resources and Protected Areas.
Sneha Gutgutia
Sneha Gutgutia joined Kalpavriksh in 2016 after completing her Masters in Social Work in Livelihoods from TISS, Mumbai. Prior to this she was working as a software engineer in an IT company in Bangalore. She is currently working on Community Conserved Areas in India and South Asia. She loves nature, enjoys the company of people and being around animals.
Shrishtee Bajpai
Shrishtee joined Kalpavriksh in 2016. Her research focuses on documenting, researching, and networking on radical alternatives to dominant systems with specific focus on exploring indigenous, traditional, and customary ways of living, decision-making and their underlying worldviews. She helps in coordinating the Vikalp Sangam process (Alternatives Confluence) and is a core team member of Global Tapestry of Alternatives. She has been researching and networking on the rights of nature movement with specific focus on South Asia. She has helped found Rights of Rivers South Asia Alliance. She is executive committee member of the Global Alliance for the Rights of Nature. Shrishtee is a fellow (2021-2022) at Post-growth Institute, US. Shrishtee has a masters in Development Studies. Apart from this, she is interested in birds, walks to unknown places, discovering music and almonds.
Shruti Ajit
Shruti Ajit joined Kalpavriksh in August 2015 to work under Conservation and Livelihood team on Community Forest Rights-Learning and Advocacy process. She is also part of the Global project on Alternatives, working on documenting worldviews of the Dongria Kondhs. She has a Master's degree in Development and an Under Graduate degree in Journalism and Communication.
Sujatha Padmanabhan
Sujatha Padmanabhan has been a member of Kalpavriksh since 1984 and has been working full time with the organisation since 2000. She is a trained special educator and has worked with children with multiple disabilities in Delhi for 10 years.
Tanya Majmudar
Tanya joined Kalpavriksh in 2014. Her work focusses on community conserved areas and children's books.
Meenakshi Kapoor
Meenakshi is currently based in Himachal Pradesh. She has a Master's in Environmental Management from the Forest Research Institute. She is interested in the politics of regulatory action. In the past she has researched the management of Ecologically Sensitive Areas and Coastal Zones in India. She has also studied natural resource governance and large-scale land-use change in Indonesia and Myanmar. Besides researching and reporting from the hills, she enjoys farming, cooking her harvest and tending to her garden and pets.
Kankana Trivedi
Kankana Trivedi joined Kalpavriksh's Alternatives team in 2017 after a Masters' degree in Ecology, Environment and Sustainable Development. She was involved with the Weaver’s Alternative Transformation Case Study in Kachchh, Gujarat from 2017-19 as a part of the larger ACKNOWL-ej project. She also worked on agro-ecology case study with other members during this time. In 2020, she compiled the Citizen’s Report on Community Forest Rights. She likes cycling, rhythms and music and currently also exploring hula hooping.
Akshay Chettri
Akshay joined Kalpavriksh in 2019 after completing his Master’s degree in Natural Resources and Governance from Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Hyderabad. He is currently involved with the Conservation and Livelihoods team on socio- environmental aspects of forest and wildlife conservation focussing on research and advocacy related to Protected Areas. His work on Protected Areas focuses on issues of displacement, wildlife diversion and the implementation of the Forest Rights Act. He is also currently engaged in a landscape level study in and around the Corbett Tiger Reserve. He likes trekking and nature walks, playing football, and has also developed an interest in bird-watching.
Vipul Sangoi
Vipul Sangoi is a founder a member of Kalpavriksh. He is a communication designer. His consultancy, Raindesign, works with NGOs, performing & visual arts organisations and artists in communications strategy, graphic design, photography, film, video and digital media. He designed the Kalpavriksh logo.
Arpita Lulla
Arpita Lulla joined Kalpavriksh in January 2017 to work with the Alternatives team. She has studied advertising and environmental studies. Apart from this, she is interested in exploring new skills, holistic living, sports, filmmaking, music and dance.
Rudrath Avinashi
Rudrath joined Kalpavriksh in January 2021 as part of the Conservation and Livelihoods team. He completed his Masters in Development (2020) from Azim Premji University. He is closely involved in the documentation, data curation, networking, research, advocacy and design for the Community Conserved Areas web portal (communityconservedareas.org) apart from various other tasks. On some days, he likes birding, listening to jazz and playing carrom.
Aanchal
Learner | Listener | Observer Worked as a field associate with Ankur Society for Alternatives in Education and have more than three years of experience working with children and young women in marginalized colonies (worked in Sunder Nagari, Delhi). Experimental pedagogy | includes watching cinema, book reading, writing stories and poems, storytelling, photography, observing characters and writing about them, and doing community research. I enjoy working with young women and children. Likes watching cinema and is passionate about writing. Roots - Sitamarhi, Bihar Moved to Delhi in 2009, and worked with different organizations (media & publication). Currently based in Pune.
Vasudha Varadarajan
Vasudha Varadarajan has studied development studies from Azim Premji University, and her areas of interest are gender, ecology, and livelihood. She is a part of the core group of Vikalp Sutra, a collective working on dignified livelihoods. She loves art, and is interested in making her own graphics.
Ajay Mahajan
Anchal Sondhi
Manju Menon
Pallav Das
Pradeep Malhotra
Rashi Mishra
Roshni Kutty
Saili Palande
Shantha Bhushan
Sunita Rao
Tejesvini Apte
Yashodhara Kundaji
Vandana Singh
Govind Khalsode
Govind Khalsode has been working with KV for more than a decade. He joined as an office assistant back in 1999, and is now the administrator. He handles a variety of administrative tasks like photocopying, printing, mailing and typing out documents. He also helps manage all KV publications.
Prajakta Kulkarni
Prajakta Kulkarni, who has a Masters degree in Commerce began helping manage KV accounts in 2005. She joined as a member of permanent KV staff as an accounts coordinator in January 2008. Ever since that, she has been single handedly (and good humouredly) keeping record of all the finances and making sure that we pay our bills.
Sharnamma Hattargi
Sharnamma is the earliest staff member at Kalpavriksh and has been with us since 1997. She helps to keep the office clean and makes tea and coffee for all every day. She is a great cook and every now and then treats everyone in the office to a delicious snack or meal!
Sushama Gaikwad
Sushama Gaikwad joined Kalpavriksh in September 2019 as an Assistant for the Library and Documentation & Outreach Center. She has a master's degree in Psychology from SNDT Women's University, Pune.
