About us
The Forum for Law, Environment, Development and Governance (FLEDGE) was established as a not-for- profit Trust in 2014 under the Indian Trusts Act (1882) to facilitate knowledge driven actions linking environment, development science-policy- practice. FLEDGE aims to accelerate use of modern technology and science to deliver development goals at local level, combining experiences from local to global. FLEDGE is designed as a federated platform with an aim to bring experts, practitioners and solution-seekers onto a common forum that discusses, designs and delivers solutions that are responsive and relevant at local, national, regional and global levels.
Our Story
From a very modest beginning in 2014 that combined the vision of its founding Trustees who brought with them experiences from national and international organizations, including the United Nations, FLEDGE focuses on the following primary areas of work
- Sustainable Development Practice
- Conservation Futures
- Legal and Regulatory processes that achieve Equity, Access to Justice and Rule of Law
- Science-Policy- Practice Links
- Biodiversity, Traditional Knowledge, and Health
- National and International Policy Making
Board of Trustees
Mrs. Annapurna Pisupati
Managing Trustee
Mrs. Annapurna Pisupati is an accomplished educationist with passion in shaping the future
of children with intellectual disabilities. A trained special needs teacher, Mrs. Pisupati brings
with her more than a decade of experience in pedagogical research, teaching in countries like
Sri Lanka, Japan, Kenya and India.
Dr. Balakrishna Pisupati
Trustee & Chairperson
Dr. Balakrishna Pisupati is an internationally renowned conservation and development specialist with close to three decades of experience working at national, regional and international levels, holding positions such as Vice-Chancellor, TransDisciplinary University (TDU, India), Chief of Biodiversity, Land Law and Governance programmes at United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP, Kenya), Senior Policy Fellow at Fridtjof Nansen Institute (FNI, Norway), Chairman, National Biodiversity Authority-Government of India (NBA, India), Coordinator, Biodiplomacy Programme at United Nations University (UNU-IAS, Japan), Head, Regional Biodiversity Programme for Asia at the World Conservation Union (IUCN, Sri Lanka), Head, Biodiversity and Biotechnology programme at the M S Swaminathan Research Foundation (MSSRF, India). He has advised more than 30 countries, globally, on conservation and development policy and served as advisor to international bodies such as China Council for International Cooperation on Environment and Development, China, the UN Secretary General Task Force on Technology Mechanism and others.
Dr. Shamnad Basheer
Trustee
Dr. Shamnad Basheer is an accomplished legal professional in India who won the first Infosys Prize for Humanities in 2015 in India. An accomplished educationist in law, Dr. Basheer is currently the Visiting Professor of Law at National Law School University, Bangalore and Honorary Research Chair Professor of IP Law at Nirma University in India. He began his academic career by joining the George Washington University Law School in Washington DC as the Frank H Marks Visiting Associate Professor in IP Law. In 2008, he returned to India, joining the National University of Juridical Sciences (NUJS), Kolkata as the first Ministry of Human Resource Development Chaired Professor in Intellectual Property law.
Partnerships
United Nations Development Programme
Srishti Institute of Art, Design and Technology
Jawaharlal Nehru University
Senior Advisers
FLEDGE is supported by a set of senior advisers who are national, international experts on issues of interest to the organization.
Timothy Hodges
President, World Foreign Services Association, Prof. of Practice, Institute of Study of International Development, McGill University, Montreal Canada
His areas of specialisation includes Foreign Policy, Trade, Access to genetic resources and Benefit Sharing, Convention on Biological Diversity and International Negotiations
G. Anathakrishnan
Founder, The Future We Want, Oslo, Norway and Former Senior Advisor, UN-HABITAT
His areas of specialisation includes Urban Development, Water
Security and International Policy
N. Sunil Kumar
Senior Vice President, Royal Bank of Scotland, N. V and Director, RBS Foundation, Mumbai, India
His areas of specialisation includes Business and biodiversity, Corporate Social Responsibility, Community Empowerment, Conservation action
Sarath Kotagama
Professor, Department of Zoology, University of Colombo, Colombo, Sri Lanka and Founder Field Ornithology Group of Sri Lanka
His areas of specialisation includes Biodiversity conservation, Ornithology, Environmental education, Policy research and Species restoration
Erach Bharucha
Director, Institute of Environment Education and Research, Bharati Vidyapeeth University, Pune, India and Former Chairman, Maharashtra State Biodiversity Board
His areas of specialisation includes Environmental Education, Conservation, Culture, Traditional knowledge and Capacity building
S. Elumalai
Associate Professor, Faculty of Law, Dr. Ambedkar Law University, Chennai, India
His areas of specialisation includes Law, Environmental policy, Human resource development and traditional knowledge
Dr. Balakrishnan Nair
Hon. Advisor
His area of expertise is ethno-veterinary medicine and capacity building,
Ms. Hanying Li
Hon. Advisor
Ms. Li is the IUCN CEC regional vice-chair for North Asia and is an accomplished conservation scientist with focus on China and North Asia.
Kabir S Bavikatte
Executive Director, Christensen Foundation, California, USA
His areas of specialisation includes Community rights, Access to genetic resources and benefit sharing, Environmental Law and Policy
M. Padmavati
Associate Professor, Rajiv Gandhi School of Intellectual Property Law, IIT Kharagpur Kharagpur, West Bengal, India
Her areas of specialisation includes Patent Law, IP management, Biodiversity Conservation, Indigenous and traditional knowledge management, Agriculture
Suneetha M Subramanian
Biodiplomacy Programme, United Nations University, Tokyo, Japan
Her areas of specialisation includes Traditional knowledge, Economics, Health and biodiversity, Access to genetic resources and Benefit Sharing
Ranjith Mahindapala
Former Regional Programme Coordinator, IUCN Asia
His areas of specialisation includes Biodiversity policy, Species conservation, Programme management, Monitoring and Evaluation
Gladman Chibememe
Chibememe Earth Healing Association, Harare, Zimbabwe
His areas of specialisation includes Community development, Bio-entrepreneurship and Traditional knowledge
M K Ramesh
Professor of Law, Chair – Urban Poor and Law, National Law School University of India, Bengaluru, India
His areas of specialisation includes Environmental Law, Climate policy, Human resource development, Biodiversity law and policy
Dr. Atul Kumar Gupta
Former PCCF and Head of Forest Force and Member Secretary, Tripura Biodiversity Board
His expertise lies in the areas of conservation, forest management, governance, local livelihood security and empowerment.
Dr. Aleksei Zavarzin
Hon. Advisor
Dr. Zavarzin is currently the Vice-Director of N I Vavilov Centre for Genetic Resources based in St. Petersburg, Russia. He is an accomplished agro biodiversity conservation specialist
Robert Lamb
Special Senior Advisor for Biodiversity, Berne, Switzerland
His areas of specialisation includes Biodiversity Policy and Law, International Negotiations, Synergies and National Strategies for Conservation
L. Pushpakumar
Sr. Associate Professor, Department of Law, Nalanda University, Rajgir, India
His areas of specialisation includes Environmental Law, Human Resource Development, Access to genetic resources and Benefit Sharing, Biosafety and International Negotiations
Ainun Nishat
Former Vice- Chancellor, BRAC University, Dhaka, Bangladesh
His areas of specialisation includes Climate Change, Water resources management, Transboundary cooperation, biodiversity conservation
Anju Sharma
Director, Oxford Climate Policy, Oxford, United Kingdom
Her areas of specialisation includes Climate policy, Adaptation, Negotiations and UNFCCC
Deepta Satheesh
Dean, School of New Humanities and Design, Shristi Institute of Art, Design and Technology, Bengaluru, India
Her areas of specialisation includes Art, Design, Communication and Awareness raising
Gopikrishna Warrier
Senior Editor, Mongabay-India
His areas of specialisation includes Media, Training, Reporting and Awareness raising
Alphonse Kambu
Papua New Guinea
Alphonse is an environmental lawyer specialising on issues of community rights and conservation. He has held positions such as Director of Ishiikawa International Cooperation Cooperation Centre, Policy Officer, UN Environment and is currently advising UNDP on issues of ABS.
The Team
Dr. Balakrishna Pisupati
Chairperson and Trustee
Mr. Abdi Rahman
Student Intern
Ms. Shova Devi
FLEDGE Fellow
Ms. Alphonsa Jojan
Hon. Fellow
Ms. Raji Gururaj
Student Intern
Ms. Shalini Iyengar
Hon. Fellow
Mr. Anirudh Chakradhar
Visiting Fellow