Pushkin Phartiyal
Pushkin Phartiyal is the Executive Director of the Central Himalayan Environment Association (CHEA), a pioneer NGO in the Indian Himalayan region, working on sustainable development of the mountains and mountain people.
Dr. Pushkin has successfully implemented various grassroots community-oriented interventions such as community carbon forestry, capacity building and training modules for development workers, and the introduction of low cost appropriate technologies for rural areas. He specializes in conducting Training of Trainers on participatory approaches, gender and climate change, and livelihoods and training skills. Dr. Pushkin’s unique approach to apply lessons from his grassroots level work to affect policy at regional and national level has brought about positive changes on critical issues such as payment for ecosystem services. Since one in every 12 people in the world live in a mountain region and of this nearly 90% - 663 million people -live in developing or transition countries, Dr. Pushkin has launched the Indian Mountain Initiative (IMI) to catalyze his effective approach. IMI provides a forum to bring together stakeholders from 12 Himalayan states of India for exchange of lessons learned and policy formulation for sustainable development and social empowerment of the mountain communities.
Dr. Pushkin is working to build a green economy in the remote Himalayan regions in order to address the unprecedented challenge on natural resources and the mountain poverty. He has developed programmes to promote sustainable livelihood through efficient management of resources and the environment. These efforts have introduced marginalised mountain communities to the market economy, creating an incentive not only to conserve the region’s dwindling resources but also to improve the regeneration of forests and water. Based on the premise that the management of natural resources is more efficient when it is linked to economic activities of local communities, Dr. Pushkin is strengthening a form of community forestry known as Van Panchayats to link livelihoods with management of natural resources. Through 12,089 Van Panchayats in the Uttarakhand state of India he strives for increased participation of women, natural resource-based microenterprises and community resilience.
Dr. Pushkin is an Ashoka Fellow as well as a LEAD (Leadership in Environment and Development) Fellow. He has been awarded several other prestigious fellowships such as the Commonwealth Professional Fellowship, United Nations Environmental Programme Tongji University’s Asia-Pacific Leadership Programme on Environment for Sustainable Development and UNEP Eco-Peace Leadership Centre Fellowship. Dr. Pushkin has won numerous awards, notably the National Award for Excellence in Writing three times from the Government of India has three times.
Dr. Pushkin has post-graduate degrees in Sociology and History, Ph.D. in Gandhian history, post-graduate diploma in Journalism & Mass Communication, and a certificate course on Environmental Leadership Programme from the University of California-Berkeley. He writes frequently on environmental and development issues and is affiliated with Press Trust of India, the lead news agency of country.
