Policy outreach

Key reasons that make ATREE’s work pertinent to decision makers and to communities that work towards triggering change are:

  • Acknowledgement of social factors
  • Interactive and participatory methods of inclusion
  • Network with organizations – civil/ government – fulfilling similar objectives

ATREE contributes to policy outcomes by engaging with various actors around issues of conservation and sustainable development. These include policy makers, implementing agencies, local self-government, field practitioners, grassroots activists, advocacy groups, and the wider public. We use research-based findings to enable discussions on environmental policy decisions through:

  • Creating forums for policy dialogues with communities, researchers and public groups
  • Providing strategic environmental policy perspectives that improve governance and civic-state relations and serve the interests of the rural poor;
  • Helping to institutionalize actions aimed to strengthen civil society's commitment and involvement in conservation;
  • Assisting communities in the conservation of natural resources, particularly water resources and biological diversity;
  • Developing decentralized, inclusive models of co-management of natural resources

Some examples of diverse engagements with policy makers and stakeholder communities are given below:

  • Participating in evaluative and review committees set up by the government
    • ATREE faculty, SharachchandraLele, served on the MoEF-MoTA Joint Committee on implementation of Forest Rights Act, and forest governance in the country. Visit http://atree.org/fra_ffgov for the full story. Report by the 20-member National Forest Rights Act Committee (FRAC) is available at https://sites.google.com/site/fracommittee/home. Also read about ATREE’s continuing work on Rights, governance and conservation.
    • Jagdish Krishnaswamy, Robert Chandran (Adjunct Fellow) and R. Prabhakar (Adjunct Senior Fellow) were members of a national level advisory to ensure transparency and efficiency in the implementation of CAMPA (Compensatory Afforestation Fund Management and Planning Authority).
    • ATREE is member of the governing council of the Karnataka State Council for Science and Technology.
    • Dr. Harini Nagendra was part of the Committee for Reorganization of Botanical Survey of India and Zoological Survey of India.
  • Providing inputs and comments to government plans and policies
    • Example: ATREE’s participation as a member of the Working Group on Ecosystem Resilience, Biodiversity and Sustainable Livelihoods for the Twelfth Five-year Planning Commission, Environment and Forest Division, and Steering Committee, Environment, Forests and Wildlife and Animal Welfare. Click for ATREE’s recommendations.
    • Jagdish Krishnaswamy is member of the National Tri-state Chambal Sanctuary Management and Coordination Committee set up by the MoEF.
  • Conducting select appraisals and assessments
    • ATREE, in collaboration with Nature Conservation Foundation and Wildlife Institute of India, provided the scientific basis that enabled the MoEF to propose World Natural Heritage site clusters in the Western Ghats. UNESCO will use this technical report as part of its evaluation of the Western Ghats as a potential World Heritage Site, when it takes its decision in 2012. Promotion of the Western Ghats as a natural World Heriatge Site will influence policies on conservation, sustainable development and resource extraction.
  • Publishing policy briefs, or writing on policy through public media, examples of which are given below:
  • Speaking/ writing in public fora, including through radio, television and newspapers
    • Nitin Rai and Ashish Kothari. Biligiri Tiger Reserve: Include Soligas in conservation plan. Deccan Herald, Feb 2011.
    • Hiremath, A. 2011. Alien species - Can they be stopped? In: The Hindu Survey of the Environment 2011
    • Lele, S. 2011. Rethinking forest governance: Towards a perspective beyond JFM, the Godavarman case and FRA. In: The Hindu Survey of the Environment 2011
    • Rai, N. 2011. Looking beyond Protected Areas to save species. In: The Hindu Survey of the Environment 2011
    • Priyadarsanan Dharma Rajan and K.D. Prathapan. Water in a sieve. Down To Earth, 15 Oct. 2010.
    • Kiran, M.C. and Jagdish Krishnaswamy. Western Ghats: biodiversity, endemism and conservation. World Heritage No. 56, June 2010. pp 40 - 43.
    • Harini Nagendra, Maps, lakes and citizens, SEMINAR 613 – September, 2010
    • Nachiket Kelkar and Jagdish Krishnaswamy, Keeping rivers alive, Seminar 613 – September, 2010
  • Organizing discussions and seminars on important policy matters
    • ATREE and Noragric, UMB, The Norwegian University of Life Sciences, organised a
      policy dialogue on REDD+      : Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation Plus for an audience of policy makers, academics, media persons, NGO leaders and others at the India International Centre, Delhi on 14th July 2011.
    • ATREE organized a national consultation on ‘Advancing the Science of Taxonomy in India for Biodiversity Conservation’ in February 2010, in which policies pertaining to education, access to biodiversity habitats and international collaborations were discussed. The recommendations were shared with the ministries of the Departments of Science and Technology and Environment and Forests. See report on the workshop published in Current Science http://www.ias.ac.in/currsci/25jul2010/157.pdf.
    • ATREE invited partners and friends to a panel discussion on ‘Science in the Service of Society’. The discussion was led by Dr. M.S. Swaminathan of MSSRF, Chennai, Dr Amita Baviskar of the Institute of Economic Growth (IEG), New Delhi and Dr Vijay Raghavan, National Centre for Biological Sciences (NCBS), Bangalore and held at ATREE, Bangalore, in March 2010.
  • Involving key stakeholders in designing and providing feedback on major studies

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