About Us
Raison D´etre
Human activities affect ecology. Historically human civilizations have destroyed forests, ravaged mountain slopes, polluted water and air, and have perished as a consequence. Even today our development plans directed to enhance the economic well-being of our people, affect and drastically modify ecology, mostly in adverse manner and as a consequence imperil our own lives.
Our Mission
Society’s mission is to promote environmental awareness and nature conservation; to design & conduct training programmes to create awareness & capability to undertake restoration & nature conservation projects; undertake studies for the conservation, management & restoration of our natural resources & to plan & implement field projects in both rural & urban areas setting up model units where economic planning & ecological conservation complement each other & form a viable development model to be emulated in future.
Approach
Natural resources are our assets, which provide basic necessities of life to millions of our citizens. We are dependent on these natural resources for our livelihood. All developmental plans that are directed to enhance the economic well-being of our people are affecting natural resources and altering the delicate ecological balance by destroying forests, ravaging mountain slopes, polluting air and water. In the past two decades we have been witnessing unusual climatic changes and depletion of our flora and fauna.
The changes are in the form of global warming, receding water tables, melting of polar ice, depletion of ozone layer, reduction in forest cover, endangering certain species, increasing green house effect etc. Nature takes its own time to repair the indiscriminate damages inflicted under the garb of development. It took millions of years for coal to crystallize and oil to form.
The destruction of ecology should be of immediate concern otherwise the effect in the long run could be catastrophic, even leading to the extinction of mankind. Several global studies have indicated that India is particularly vulnerable to climate change and is likely to suffer damage to agriculture, food, water security, human health and coastal population.
We should realize the gravity of the situation before it blows out of proportion and get our act together towards restoration of the ecological balance. We therefore, need to make concerted efforts to prevent any further damage as well as restore the damage already inflicted on ecology.
Our Genesis
The genesis of the Society goes back to March 1982, when a group of concerned individuals held discussions and formulated plans to set up a trust to further ecological research and education. The names of the founder members are – Mr. Prakash Gole and Dr. (Mrs.) Swati Gole, Dr. and Mrs. Wadia, Dr. S.V. Bhave, Late Mr. L.G. Rajwade , former Chief Secretary, Government of Maharashtra, Late Mr. Keskar - Director Town Planning , Government of Maharashtra, Late Mr. J.S. Tilak, Chairman , Legislative Council of Maharashtra.
Chairman:
Prakash Gole, Ecologist and Ornithologist
Board of Trustees:
1) Vice Admiral M. P. Awati, PVSM VRC (Retd.),
2) Dr. Swati Gole (M.A. Geography, Ph.D),
3) Shri V. B. Savarkar (Ex Director- Wildlife Institute of India),
4) Ambareesh Thakkar,
5) Dipankar Chaudhari,
6) Ajay Phatak (Vice President- Symphony Teleca),
7) Gurudas Nulkar (Head of Executive MBA, Symbiosis Centre for Management)
8) Manasi Karandikar (M.Sc. Env. Sc.), Founder Member of "oikos" for Ecological Services
Supporting Team:
Suhas Sapatnekar, Gunwant Mahajan
Active Volunteers
Ajay Phatak, Gurudas Nulkar, Ketaki Ghate, Manasi Karandikar, Pinakin Karve, Juilie Thakur, Nikhil Dandekar, Jui Dharwadkar, Madhavi Phatak, Amar Oke, Manjusha Oak, Manish Ghorpade, Kalpana Gupte, Lata Hiremath, Revati Gindi, Suneeta Khare, Anuradha Kodilakar, Veena Bagade, Amogh Paralikar, Dr Sangeeta Kohli, Monali Shah, Priti Mastkar, Sayali Tamhane, Anushree Chitinis, Shrikant Acharya, Rajiv Page, Rajiv Pandit, Bharati Kelkar, Dipannita Das,
About Us