Stanford Social Innovation Review Article - From the Ground Up, 2008

This article was shared by Dr. Bawa, one of our speakers for Meeting 1 regarding an organization that he works closely with - the Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment, ATREE.org, based in Bangalore.

From the Ground Up
ATREE crossed sectors to breed a new species of conservation agency by Brandon Keim

Available with subscription at: http://www.ssireview.org/articles/entry/from_the_ground_up/.


The Western Ghats, a mountain range running 1,000 miles down the western coast of India, is one of the world’s natural treasures. With rain forests, dry forests, swamps, and rivers, the range is home to 1,600 flowering plants found nowhere else on the planet, as well as to scores of endangered animals, including tigers and elephants. No less important, millions of people live in the Ghats, and many of their
livelihoods are intertwined with the region’s natural bounty.

But in 1993, when botanist Kamal Bawa received a World Wildlife Fund grant to help the Soligas, an indigenous tribe living in the Ghats and dependent on forest products, he found a region devastated by deforestation and misuse. In the developed world, fragile ecosystems often enjoy ample research describing them, organizations attempting to preserve them, and policies protecting them. But all Bawa saw in the Ghats was a patchwork of government protections that amounted to little more than a conservation Band-Aid. Most of the existing research was irrelevant to the Ghats’ problems or didn’t link to government policies. NGOs tried to help, but they invariably overlooked the social and economic aspects of conservation.

...In 1996, Bawa founded just that kind of institution: the Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment (ATREE; no relation to Ashoka, the organization that supports social entrepreneurship). Part academic institution, part
activist group, part think tank, ATREE reaches across sectors to give India—as well as the rest of the world—something it never had: an environmental organization that combines natural and social sciences, conducts research on conservation and sustainable development, trains scientists, works with local communities to implement best practices, and advocates for evidence-based environmental policy. What started out as a four-person organization has since grown into the crown jewel of Indian conservation, employing 140 people and training scores of Indian scientists at four centers.

...

To Grow ATREE
ATREE has enjoyed policy and practice victories as well. The organization successfully pushed for a ban on mining in India’s national parks. It also drove a prohibition against using plastic in the Kalakkad Mundanthurai Tiger Reserve. But on other fronts, ATREE’s results have been mixed. It has reformed some farming and forestry practices in the Western Ghats, but not to the extent that Bawa had hoped.
And although ATREE has produced a vast body of literature and recommended policies, the Indian government has not yet fully implemented them.

ATREE’s job is to show what can and should be done, and so it still relies on government agencies, communities, and other nonprofits to carry out its recommendations. That multi-stakeholder approach is part of the organization’s ethos, but it is necessarily limited. An ongoing project in the development-threatened Vembanad Lake region has provoked soul-searching over whether ATREE should be more active in implementing its own advice.

“I don’t think we’ve resolved that issue,” says Bawa. “There’s a fear that it would fundamentally change who we are. I personally would favor more action-oriented programs, but that would require far more resources, and also a different type of thinking. And it would not be in the interest of ATREE to push for that at the moment.”

Funding ATREE can also be tricky. International foundations, local foundations, government, and expatriates provide ATREE’s $1 million annual budget. Bawa points out, however, that foundations often pursue narrowly focused projects, rather than building infrastructure. “There are easily 15 or 20 foundations internationally active in India,” says Bawa, “but [the Ford Foundation] is the only one giving support for institutional grants, not just project grants.”

Despite these struggles, ATREE has inspired other countries with environmental problems, a shortage of homegrown researchers, and a dearth of NGOs. “The ATREE model with modifications to suit the local context is replicable,” wrote Bawa in an e-mail. “When I talk about ATREE, people from other countries often come and ask me how they can have an ATREE unit in their countries.”