Dr. Abey George is working in development and environmental conservation for the past 16 years. He is currently working as the Assistant Professor with KILA (Kerala Institute of Local Administration), Government of Kerala which imparts training to local governments, parts of India and SAARC countries. At KILA, he coordinates training programmes related to natural resource management, implementation of the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, environmental and conservation issues, climate change adaptation issues and use of the Right to Information Act and good governance. He has been awarded the Commonwealth Professional Fellowship in 2008 to work on climate change and local governance.
Dr George is also engaged in research and consultancy with institutions like World Commission on Dams where he conducted a study to assess the feasibility of micro hydel options for electricity generation in the state of Kerala. At Kerala Forest Research Institute, he was part of a project coordinated and funded by the Centre for International Forestry Research that worked on evolving a criteria and indicators for assessing Sustainable Natural Resource Management. With Kerala Research Programme on Local Level Development, Centre for Development Studies, Trivandrum, he worked on a project that looked into natural resource use and industrial development in Kerala. He also coordinated a project which aimed to explore pesticide use patterns by small and medium farmers in the tribal tract of Attappady in Kerala.
Later, he headed the training and human resource development division of the internationally assisted watershed development project working on eco-restoration of an extremely degraded tribal area (Attappady in the state of Kerala). He also co-ordinated Decentralised Resource Centres (DRCs) of LEAD India, that works on the theme of Decentralisation and Natural Resource Management.
He was actively involved with the Save Narmada Movement (Narmada Bachao Andolan). He also worked on the issues of Development and Displacement at the Unit for Rural Studies, TISS, Mumbai. Subsequently, he worked as the Coordinator of the Oceanic Circles Research Group at Sewagram Ashram at Wardha in Maharashtra.
Dr. Abey George is a graduate in Physics, and a postgraduate in Gandhian Studies. His Ph.D. in Development Studies is from the Centre for Rural Development and Appropriate Technology, Indian Institute of Technology, New Delhi.