Began working on environment & development issues in school, 1978-79, a founder of Kalpavriksh, Indian environmental NGO; coordinates its Alternatives programme. Graduate in Sociology, taught environment at Indian Institute of Public Administration in 1990s, and guest faculty at several universities & institutes; Mellon Global Fellow at Bowdoin College, USA. Co-Chair of IUCN Inter-commission Strategic Direction on Governance, Equity, and Livelihoods in Relation to Protected Areas (TILCEPA) (1999-2008), in same period member of Steering Committees of World Commission on Protected Areas (WCPA), and IUCN Commission on Environmental, Economic, and Social Policy (CEESP). Served on the Board of Directors of Greenpeace International, chaired Greenpeace India’s Board. Steering group of CBD Alliance and ICCA Consortium. On Board of Ind. Soc. of Ecological Economics. Member of Global Commission for Amazon Sacred Headwaters Initiative. Served on Indian Government’s Environmental Appraisal Committee on River Valley Projects, Expert Committees to formulate Biological Diversity Act & National Wildlife Action Plan, and Committee on Forest Rights Act. Coordinated India's National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan process. Active in people’s movements, incl. Narmada Bachao Andolan (Save Narmada Movement), Beej Bachao Andolan (Save the Seeds Movement), Community Forest Rights Learning and Advocacy Network. Helping coordinate Vikalp Sangam (Alternatives Confluence, www.vikalpsangam.org), and Global Tapestry of Alternatives (www.globaltapestryofalternatives.org). Author or editor (sole or with others) of over 30 books, and over 300 articles. Books include Environment and Human Rights; Sharing Power; Managing Protected Areas: A Global Guide; Birds in our Lives; Churning the Earth: The Making of Global India; Alternative Futures: India Unshackled; and Pluriverse: A Post-Development DictionaryKeen photographer, using pictures with popular writing in periodicals, and slide presentations with various audiences.