Senior Project Associate

Bineesh Kollan Kandiyil

Bineesh is Senior Project Associate, Communications, at the Food and Land Use Coalition India. Working closely with the Communications Lead, he manages FOLU India’s social media accounts, designs and prepares creatives, and takes photographs.

Bineesh has more than two decades of professional experience in photography, print production and digital media in a variety of roles in India and the United Arab Emirates. He holds certifications in photojournalism, visual communication design and digital marketing.

Outside of work, Bineesh enjoys reading poetry, fiction and non-fiction, and watching films.

Country Coordinator

Jayahari KM

Jayahari (Hari) leads FOLU India together with a secretariat at WRI India. His primary responsibility is to coordinate the FOLU India activities working closely with the FOLU India partners and initiatives. He is also the Associate Director of the Sustainable Landscape Restoration Programme India.

Prior to joining FOLU and WRI, Hari worked in different capacities in institutions like Kerala Forest Research Institute, WWF India, Winrock International India till 2015, focusing on Natural Resource Management and Biodiversity Conservation. He has initiated and implemented many conservation programs primarily in Western Ghats and Eastern Himalayas. Between 2015-17 he led an NGO working in pastoral and dry-land agriculture sectors—Sahjeevan—as its Executive Director. He has also played an instrumental role in building several spatial databases in India, like India Observatory (www.indiaobservatory.org.in) at the Foundation of Ecological Security, and Restoration Opportunity Atlas of India (india.restorationatlas.org) at WRI India. He also provided consultancy services to national and international organizations like Tetra Tech, ICLEI South Asia, etc.

Jayahari holds a PhD in Forestry (Wildlife Biology) from Forest Research Institute, Dehradun.

Project Associate

Ninad Bhosale

Hi, this is Ninad Bhosale from Mumbai. I am working as a Project Associate with FOLU India and looking after logistical and research support for the team.

Before this, I worked as a research assistant and communications executive with the Wildlife Conservation Trust (WCT). At WCT, I was a part of various programs and departments such as Human-Wildlife Conflict Resolution, Conservation Dogs Unit and Conservation Communications.

I hold a master’s in Biodiversity Wildlife Conservation and Management from the University of Mumbai.

And, I love nature walks, travelling to the rural areas of the country, clicking landscapes and wildlife, and editing videos in my free time.

Senior Communications Manager

Pallavi Singh

Pallavi Singh is Senior Communications Manager at FOLU India. She has extensive experience designing and managing development sector communication strategies, having worked on various campaigns and multistakeholder initiatives at organizations such as TERI and UNDP.

Over the years, Pallavi has established a talent for creating powerful impact stories, which capture the perspectives of stakeholders in multiple sectors including, health, nutrition, sustainable agriculture, climate change, sustainable business, youth engagement, e-mobility, green buildings, energy, biodiversity, gender and WASH. She has also managed COVID-19 response communication campaigns through new and traditional media formats, led multi-state behavioural change communication initiatives, and worked on several crowdfunding programmes.

In her current role, Pallavi oversees the communications strategy of FOLU India, where she supports the platform to scale its reach, amplify its research and create high-visibility partnerships and alliances.

Junior Project Associate

Parul Jain

Parul is Junior Project Associate with the Food and Land Use Coalition India at World Resources Institute India. Her key responsibility is to coordinate the implementation of the project, ‘Financing Nature-based Solutions: a path to prosperity, food security and resilience’ under FOLU India Sustainable Agriculture Initiative.

Prior to WRI India, she was associated with World Wide Fund for Nature India, in Western India Tiger Landscape, where she worked at field sites in Rajasthan and adjoining parts of Madhya Pradesh. Her work focused on wildlife monitoring and community-based conservation. She was also engaged in conducting awareness programmes and surveys in corridor villages to understand the socio-economic dependencies of the forest-dependent communities and undertaking interventions for human-wildlife conflict mitigation.

She holds a Master degree in Environmental Studies and a Bachelor degree in Zoology, both from the University of Delhi.

Program Associate

Parveen Kumar

Parveen is Program Associate with the Food and Land Use Coalition India at
World Resources Institute India. His key responsibility is to coordinate and
assist in establishing the ‘Food Systems Hub’ at the national level.
He began his professional journey as a Junior Research Fellow at PGIMER
Chandigarh, where he focused on the project ‘Impact of Climate Change on
Air Quality’ and its effects on chronic respiratory diseases. Later, he served as
a Technical Officer at the Punjab Biodiversity Board, heavily involved in
implementing the Biological Diversity Act, 2002 in Punjab. This included
forming Biodiversity Management Committees, compiling People’s
Biodiversity Registers (PBRs), and conducting capacity-building programs for
various line departments, conducted field visits, collected primary &
secondary data, photographed local flora and fauna, facilitated stakeholder
meetings, led Participatory Rural Appraisals (PRAs) and implemented
National Biodiversity Authority-funded projects.
With a Master’s degree in Environmental Science from Panjab University,
Chandigarh, and qualified in UGC NET, he brings 5 years of experience
specializing in biodiversity conservation and climate change projects.

FOLU India Lead, Distinguished Fellow, TERI

S Vijay Kumar

S Vijay Kumar joined TERI as Distinguished Fellow in 2013. In TERI he works on
policy issues related to natural resources, including land, water and
minerals and mentors TERI colleagues in natural resource related sectors..
He also leads the TERI-wide initiative on SDGs and Policy Coordination to
ensure that research on SDGs and related policy across the Institute is
better coordinated. He has authored, along with colleagues in TERI, policy
papers on mineral resources, environmental governance, water resources
etc. He is also a Member since 2015, of the United Nations’ International
Resource Panel.
S Vijay Kumar is also the Leader of the Food and Land Use (FOLU) Coalition
India programme since 2019. The programme is being implemented by a
consortium of four institutions, namely The Energy and Resources
Institute(TERI), the World Resources Institute (WRI), the Council for Energy,
Environment and Water (CEEW) and Revitalising Rainfed Areas
Network(RRAN). The FOLU Coalition work in India has a “fork to farm “
approach, focusing on increasing the sustainability of Indian agriculture,
and improving the nutritional status of India through better food
production and waste reduction practices.
Prior to joining TERI, he was a member of the Indian Administrative Service
(IAS) which staffs the senior positions of India’s bureaucracy at Central and
State levels. He has served as Additional Secretary and Permanent
Secretary Ministry of Mines (2008-2011) and Permanent Secretary of the
India’s Ministry of Rural Development (2012-13) .

Asia-Pacific Coordinator

Seth Cook

Seth Cook PhD, is the Asia-Pacific Coordinator at The Food and Land Use Coalition (FOLU), based in SYSTEMIQ, where he is responsible for overseeing FOLU’s China and India platforms. He has extensive experience in both countries, as well as in Indonesia, Bangladesh, Nepal, Zambia, Ethiopia and Uganda. Prior to this position, he was a Senior Researcher at the International Institute for Environment and Development in the China and Agroecology teams. He lived and worked in China for over 10 years, including heading IUCN’s China office and serving as Global Operations Director for WWF’s China for a Global Shift Initiative. He is a fluent Chinese speaker. Seth has undertaken projects on sustainable diets, sustainable and regenerative agriculture, climate resilient drylands agricultural development, climate neutrality, Chinese investment in African agriculture, and China-Africa forest governance, and has published extensively on these topics. He holds M.E.S. and PhD degrees from the Yale School of the Environment, and an MA in international relations from Yale University.

Senior Manager

Sony R K

Sony R K is Senior Manager with Food and Land Use Coalition India at World Resources Institute India. His primary responsibility is managing the FOLU India Sustainable Agriculture Initiative, while working closely with FOLU India core partners.

Before joining WRI, Sony worked with International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives (ICLEI South Asia), where he managed projects focused on biodiversity mainstreaming in cities and habitat degradation assessment in the western Himalayas. He has also worked with academic institutions and research organizations like Kerala Forest Research Institute (KFRI), Salim Ali Centre for Ornithology and Natural History (SACON), Winrock International India. His work in these organizations focused on wildlife ecology, conservation and management, and environmental impact assessment.

He also worked as a visiting faculty at the Trans-disciplinary University, Bengaluru, where he designed and taught social science and qualitative research methodology courses.

Sony has recently submitted his PhD thesis in Conservation Science and Sustainability Studies at the Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and Environment (ATREE) and Manipal Academy of Higher Education (MAHE). He holds a Master degree in Zoology from Goa University.

Senior Project Associate

Shweta Nikam

Shweta Nikam is Senior Project Associate at the Food and Land Use Coalition India, where she supports the platform and its partners with the delivery and implementation of its sustainable agriculture initiative.

Shweta has more than 12 years’ experience in agricultural project management, research and data analysis, having worked and consulted for multiple public and private organizations, including Thomson Reuters, Connect Agri Services Pvt. Ltd, MITCON Consultancy & Engineering Services, Satara Mega Food Park and, most recently, NABARD.

She holds a master’s degree in agriculture business management.

Manager

Arijit Pal

Arijit Pal is a Manager with the Food and Land Use Coalition India at World Resources Institute India. His primary responsibilities include leading the finalization of the FOLU India Action Agenda, conducting research and analysis for current and future initiatives, communicating analytical reports, conceptualizing and writing proposals to support prospective fundraising efforts, and maintaining continuous communication with FOLU India Partners and FOLU Global team.

Arijit is an interdisciplinary scholar, having wide-ranging interests, mostly intertwined between ecology, evolution, conservation biology and sustainable development. Before joining FOLU, during his four years of Post-doctoral tenure, he worked as Principal Investigator and led multiple projects on biodiversity conservation. Over the last twelve years, in fact, he has been involved with and led a variety of human–environment system research and conservation projects on multiple taxa and environmental issues, across the Indian subcontinent, and successfully bring them to their natural conclusion with optimal impact.

Arijit received his Doctorate degree from the Sálim Ali Centre for Ornithology and Natural History, having studied ecology and behavior of endemic Nicobar Macaques in remote Nicobar Islands. Before that, he received Masters’ degree in Conservation Biology from the University of Burdwan. Alongside receiving prestigious national and international awards and fellowships, Arijit has published several research articles in top-tier journals, earning widespread appreciations.