About Us

Connecting on a personal level is an important part of sharing ideas. On this page we'll present some details about our organization and the people behind it.

Thanal is a Voluntary Organisation registered as a Public Charitable Trust. Thanal owes its origin to the network named Thanal Conservation Action and Information Network, working since 1986 and now the members of this network has registered itself as a Public Charitable Trust in December, 2003.

Thanal has the following objects declared in its memorandum of declaration as a trust.

a. To carry out research, on matters pertaining to environmental health, environmental justice, biodiversity, natural history, sustainable agriculture, social justice and public health and to advocate on the same and plan and implement action programmes for the effective dissemination of the findings, in public interest.

b. To carry on educational activities among the public for creating environmental awareness by conducting educational programmes and through publication of printed materials , production, screening, exhibition and broadcasting of audio-visual materials.

c. To conduct national and international campaigns on matters of environmental justice and environmental health so as to build public opinion for a clean, healthy and safe environment.

d. To plan and implement action programmes focussing on environmental education, conservation of biodiversity and ecosystems, natural history, sustainable and poison free agriculture, toxic free production and clean industries.

e. To build up public opinion against activities, which has long-term adverse impacts on environment and humanity, and to intervene in such matters immediately by taking appropriate and effective measures including legal action, to prevent such destruction and to protect the public assets and natural heritage.

f. To start institutions to undertake and encourage programmes and research projects to achieve trust objectives.

g. To develop and implement schemes for environmentally sound policies, guidelines and practices.

h. To affiliate organizations and provide technical support for conservation programmes.

i. To provide support for those groups and individuals engaged in production of ecologically and economically sustainable products.

j. To facilitate capacity building and impart training for the weaker sections in the society with special emphasis to help begin and run sustainable employment generating activities.

k. To provide a platform and to form a collective network of individuals and institutions with a mission "Gather for all beings"

From a Natural History learning Centre working on an informal way networking with organisations and individuals with common interests in protecting and nourishing the environment, Thanal has evolved into a public-interest research, campaign and advocacy organisation. In the last five years Thanal has started working on various issues, with Environmental Health and Justice as its foundation. It is in the process of institutionalising the Trust and setting up clear processes for growth, capacity building among the staff and volunteers and also for bringing in visible accountability. Much of the organisational matters are still evolving and we see the next two years as period of maturing.

All through these years the people who constitute Thanal came together so as to "Gather for all beings" and on a "Quest for Survival". Our greatest strength is that we believe in relationships as the key to making our goals possible and all of us work on self-motivation rather than being appointed to do a job. It is the passion to take up the work and the commitment to take the work forward that is our strength. We are now trying to strengthen our outreach programmes, where we still need to do a lot. We are also trying to put in place processes for ensuring accountability and better responsibility among the staff.

We network, partner or have alliances with other organisations based fully on programmes. Hence most of our alliances or networking is long-term as there are common interest areas that bind the organisations. At present we work closely with International Platform for the Elimination of Persistent Organic Pollutants (IPEN)(www.ipen.org), Pesticide Action Network-Asia Pacific (PAN-AP)(www.panap.net), Other Media(New Delhi), Centre for Resource Education (Hyderabad), Institute for Integrated Rural Development (Aurangabad), Centre for Budget and Policy Studies (Bangalore), SEWA-Kerala, Community Environmental Monitoring Group, Chennai, Asia-Pacific Forum for Women, Law and Development (Bangkok). We are also part of national networks - Community Health and Environmental Skill Share (CHESS) and Community Action for Pesticide Elimination (CAPE).