In mid-2024, ERA established eight thematic desks, each anchoring a core area of ecological restoration through cross-organisational partnerships.
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Education & Capacity Building - Adavi Trust
Building the resources and capacity needed for effective ecological restoration across the country. -
Knowledge & Resource Building - Auroville Botanical Garden
Collating, creating, and making accessible knowledge and tools for restoration practitioners. -
Indigenous Peoples & Local Communities (IPLCs) - Keystone Foundation
Ensuring IPLCs are active participants in shaping ERA’s agenda and the national restoration discourse. -
Policy - Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment (ATREE)
Engaging with public policy to unlock funding and influence institutional support for restoration. -
Communications & Outreach - Nature Conservation Foundation & Green Hub India
Making restoration relatable and visible to a wider audience through storytelling and outreach. -
Network Weaving & Community Building - Independent
Strengthening the restoration movement by creating connections, support systems, and shared spaces. -
Secretariat - Nature Conservation Foundation & Keystone Foundation
Supporting overall coordination, ensuring strategic alignment, and strengthening ERA’s systems and partnerships.
Since the desk’s establishment, the team has been steadily building a body of work that reflects both the diversity and depth of ecological restoration efforts across India. From monthly webinars that bring together practitioners and researchers, to field notes documenting ground realities, to policy inputs shaping national frameworks, the desks have nurtured a growing ecosystem of knowledge, practice, and collective visioning. Below, are highlights from FY 2024-25.
Knowledge Sharing & Learning
June 2024
July–August 2024
- [ERA Webinar] [Landscape Change & Invasion of Woody Invasives in the Shola Grasslands – Dr. Robin Vijayan]
- [[ERA Webinar] The Himalayan Restoration Project: Rewilding for Ecology-based Climate Resilience – Dr. Sanjay Molur & Trisa Bhattacharjee] (https://youtu.be/HEsIET9sfGc?feature=shared)
Jan–Feb 2025
- [ERA Webinar] Bringing a River Back to Life: Socio-ecological Impacts of Dams & Their Removal – Dr. Donald Flickinger
- Foundations of Land Ecosystem Restoration course - II in partnership with Azim Premji, Rewilders and Gurukula Botanical Sanctuary
March 2025
April 2025
- Launch of India’s first Seed Germination Database and supporting short videos
- [ERA Webinar]: Launching ERA-India’s Seed Germination Database
- Germination Techniques Database
- Ecoregion Mapping Workshop
May 2025
June 2025
- Ladakh Restoration Visioning Workshop (in collaboration with the NCF High Altitude Team)
- Launch of the Innovation Grant
- [ERA Webinar] Fostering the Jugalbandi of People and Nature: Reflections from Central India – Dr. Amrita Neelakantan (NCCI)
Field Learnings & Documentation
July–Aug 2024
- North Deccan Dry Deciduous Forests – Ecoregion report
- Narmada Valley Dry Deciduous Forests – Ecoregion report
Jan–Feb 2025
- Indigenous People Database, India (In progress)
- Sundarbans Mangroves – Ecoregion report
- Sundarbans Freshwater Swamp Forests – Ecoregion report
- Field Notes: Bikkapathymund (14.02.25) (IPLC desk field notes)
- Field Notes: Begur (17–18.02.25) (IPLC desk field notes)
- Grassland Restoration Plan for Ranebennur Blackbuck Sanctuary
March 2025
- Field Notes: Purulia, West Bengal (18–19.03.25) (IPLC desk field notes)
April 2025
- Field Notes: Action for Protection of Wild Animals, Odisha (09–12.04.25) (IPLC desk field notes)
- Field Notes: Praja Pragati Seva Sangham, Andhra Pradesh (17–19.04.25) (IPLC desk field notes)
May 2025
- Field Notes: Synjuk, Meghalaya (19–23.05.25) (IPLC desk field notes)
- Field Notes: Kenono Foundation & Sendenyu CBWCC, Nagaland (26–28.05.25) (IPLC desk field notes)
- Field Notes: Pungro, Nagaland (29.05.25) (IPLC desk field notes)
- Field Notes: NCF, Pakke (29.05.25) (IPLC desk field notes)
Community Building & Communications
June 2024
Nov 2024
Jan–Feb 2025
- Buzzing Board (Jan 2025; 25 Jan – 17 Feb 2025; 18 Feb 2025 – 15 Mar)
- Tendrils: Updates from the ERA Community (Feb 2025)
- C4 Collective Conservation Communications Campaign Report – Feb 2025
April 2025
- Buzzing Board (April 2025)
- Tendrils: Updates from the ERA Community (April 2025)
- Systems Thinking Workshop & Team Visioning, Kotagiri
May 2025
- Buzzing Board (May 2025)
June 2025
- Tendrils: Updates from the ERA Community (June 2025)
Policy & Advocacy
May 2025
Policy Recommendations (in progress):
- Conservation & Management of Maharashtra’s Open Natural Ecosystems
- Conservation & Management of Karnataka’s Open Natural Ecosystems
June 2025
- ERA inputs to India’s Climate Finance Taxonomy Draft Framework
- Suggestions from the ERA on the Revised Green India Mission Guidelines to Inspector General of Forest, Green India Mission (GIM) and Desertification Cell; Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC)
- Navigating Restoration Policy in Forest Landscapes: A Beginner’s Guide to India’s Forest Governance Frameworks
- Restoration Policy Database
ERA in the News
April