Dr. Archana Godbole is the Founder Director of Applied Environmental Research Foundation (AERF) which aims to maintain sacred forests as strategy of adaption, linking them to private forest conservation. Plant taxonomist and ethno biologist by training, she has developed various programmes of AERF through on the ground work over 18 years. She has also represented AERF on many national as well as international Fora.
Dr. Godbole has worked with north eastern indigenous communities for six years, documented traditional knowledge that has been used for sustainable natural resources management. Associated with Indigenous Partnership programme, she promoted indigenous Champions, their agro-biodiversity practices at global platforms to learn for adaptations, addressed food security, food sovereignty and climate change issues.
Being a Civil society Observer of Climate Investment Funds (World Bank), she is working on influencing international processes through effective civil society networks in South Asia and Pacific. Dr. Archana has developed a network of organizations working for North Western Ghats conservation since 2011 and is part of the Save the Western Ghats group – an informal congregation of organizations and individuals working for advocacy and action in 6 states of Western Ghats.
Participation in the FIP led her to interact with many similar conservation programmes and know the broad process like REDD and REDD+. As an observer, she has been constantly in touch with the networks and share the process and information, decisions of the meetings.
Dr. Godbole is an invited NGO member representative of Clinton Global Initiative and AERF commitment on Safeguarding Forests and Biodiversity of north western Ghats has been felicitated in CGI annual meeting of 2011. Archana has received prestigious Whitley associated Award in 2007 for her long term work on Conservation of Sacred Forests in the north Western Ghats.