Expressing her concern for the environment, noted philanthropist and chairperson of the Arghyam Foundation, Rohini Nilekani gifted Rs5 crore to the Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and Environment (Atree), an environmental conservation organisation.
“We must address ecology, and must make sure that we generate new knowledge about the environment which should come from an inter-disciplinary approach. There are serious trade-offs between the environment and the future, and it is important that we understand these trade-offs,” said Nilekani.
“We need both policy reform and better governance to address environmental challenges. New knowledge which is generated should be used to make policy recommendations and improve governance,” she said. The gift, according to Nilekani, will be specifically used to ensure that significant research findings reach the intended stakeholders in government and society to bring about the change.
“It will be used to drive Atree’s outreach and advocacy strategy in advancing good environmental governance at various scales,” she said at an event held on Wednesday.
The event was followed by a panel discussion on ‘Civil Society Institutions and Environmental Governance’, where BMS Rathore, joint secretary, ministry of environment and forests, Ganesan Balachander, member of the CGIAR Consortium Board, and journalist Kalpana Sharma, were the panelists.
The discussion attempted to draw attention to the active and inclusive role that civil society institutions can play to bring about changes in the environment and environmental governance.
