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About us

About Us

Forest and Wildlife Foundation

This foundation was formed on 16th June 2020 by a group of environmentally and ecologically interested individuals of varying backgrounds.

The primary objective of FWF is to protect, Restore, Develop and Nurture Forest cover in its natural form maintaining its Biodiversity of Flora & Fauna which is indigenous to the local geography. With this in mind seven like minded individuals sensitive and passionate towards forest conservation have come together to form the foundation.

VISION

Our Vision for the Foundation is summarized by the famous words उदारचरितानां तु वसुधैव कुटुम्बकम्॥.

We realize that the whole world is one Organism with interdependent and interconnected entities. We firmly believe that the forests, the animals, birds, insects living in it form a critical ecological system. No species alone can hope to survive and thrive in isolation. Modern lifestyle of mankind goes against this and urgent course correction is required.

MISSION

Our mission can be described by internalizing the famous words of saint Tukaram ; वृक्षवल्ली आम्हा सोयरे वनचरे.

We resolve to take all the actions required to help restore and conserve the ecological balance.

1. We firmly believe that restoration of forests and all related ecosystems is a very important action in mitigating adverse effects of climate change and global warming. This is also a very effective way of addressing loss of biodiversity.

2. We will plant indigenous trees, shrubs and bushes, provide protection and nourishment on:

  • Public places, road sides, boundaries of fields, lake sides, on hills and on forest land.
  • We will work with schools, colleges and educational institutions to plant and nurture trees.
  • We will work with local organizations, corporations, gram panchayats, governments and non-government organizations on supplementary and      complementary programs on water, soil and ecological conservation.

Founding Members

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Bhajandas Pawar Kadbanwadi

Kadbanwadi

Shri Bhajandas Pawar is a retired science teacher and has been working for water and environmental conservation in his own village ‘Kadbanwadi’ since early 1990s. He has been a driving force behind the water conservation drive in his village which has successfully brought the village out from a severe water scarcity situation. He had been closely working with veteran social activist Anna Hazare during the Adarsh Gaon Yojana which was being implemented during the 1990s by the Maharashtra government.
Since then, he has committed himself to the cause of sustainable rural development. He has worked as the Sarpanch of Kadbanwadi village from the year 2005 to 2010. His tenure is fondly remembered by the villagers as the period that positively altered the direction of the village development. Bhajandas has taken voluntary retirement from his job of a school teacher in the year 2012 and has been actively working for water and environmental conservation since then.

He has now focused his attention on the conservation and development of the forest lands. He has also been engaged with the water literacy programme run by the Maharashtra government and has been working as a “Jalapremi” in Pune district. He believes that villages in India can significantly contribute to the cause of environmental conservation while making their own development more sustainable. To take this belief forward is one of the key motives behind the formation of the Forest and Wildlife Foundation. We are proud to have Bhajndas as the president of FWF.

Mukund Vishnu Mavalankar

Pune

Mukund retired as Director Technical after 31 years of working in Bharat Forge in June 2019. He had worked in Tata Motors for 13 years and BPL for 4 years. He completed his under-graduation in Electrical Engineer from IIT Kanpur in 1975. He took a two-year sabbatical from Bharat Forge to complete his masters in manufacturing engineering from University of Massachusetts Amherst during 1990-92.
In the last 15 years he has been an ardent environmentalist. Mukund strongly believes that only way we can build a sustainable civilization is to transition quickly from fossil fuels to 100% renewable. Last 10 years he has been using only solar energy in his house in Pune. He has also transition to EV and does not use any petrol or Diesel. Not only do we have to stop using fossil fuels, we have to start absorbing CO2 from the atmosphere. The best and most efficient way of doing this is to quickly restore our forests. We are fortunate to have large forest lands in India. But they are badly degraded.

Restoring forests not only mitigate climate change by also helps in preserving biodiversity. He believes that healthy forest provides suitable habitats for many creatures and insects. We also have to vehemently protect our forests, grasslands, wetlands and rivers. Keeping this in mind he along with other like-minded individuals formed this NGO. We are proud to have him as the secretary of the FWF.

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Vikram Prabhakar Kulkarni

Pune

Vikram is a 1978 mechanical Engineering Graduate from IIT Kanpur. He worked in Tata Motors Pune in various capacities including Head Operations – Chinchwad plant and retired as the Head of New Product Introduction Projects of Utility vehicles.
After 39 years of working in a very satisfying corporate environment, Vikram then decided to explore other aspects of life post retirement.

An enthusiastic cyclist and trekker, he worked as an advisor at Baba Amte’s Anandwan for three years. As a founder member of FWF he now looks forward to contribute in the efforts to stop forest degradation and making this planet greener.

Subhash Machhindra Pagle

Nigadi

Vikram is a 1978 mechanical Engineering Graduate from IIT Kanpur. He worked in Tata Motors Pune in various capacities including Head Operations – Chinchwad plant and retired as the Head of New Product Introduction Projects of Utility vehicles.
After 39 years of working in a very satisfying corporate environment, Vikram then decided to explore other aspects of life post retirement.

An enthusiastic cyclist and trekker, he worked as an advisor at Baba Amte’s Anandwan for three years. As a founder member of FWF he now looks forward to contribute in the efforts to stop forest degradation and making this planet greener.

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Satish Savalaram Gawade

Kadbanwadi

Satish comes from a tradition of school teachers. His father was a school teacher and he to is a school teacher. He started his career at the age of 19 and has taught in 3 different village school. He regularly participates and leads various social activities. He helps in people in need and is philanthropic in his attitude. He has helped Kadbanwadi to be free of all disputes. Kadbanwadi is fortunate have forest land next to the village Satish devotes his spare time in looking after and restoring the nearby forest. He takes active part in all social and cultural activities of the village.
He has been a successful farmer. He farming with 2 acre of Lnd and with his sheer determination and hard work he is now proud owner of a 30 acre farm. He has been amply awarded for his professional as well as social work. He received the “Ideal Techer award” in the Indapur taluka in 2019.

Pune District Sane Guruji Katha mala decorated him with the Ideal teacher award in 2019. Kabanwadi awarded him the “Most effective personality” award in 2016. The Indapur Forest department recognized his Forest restoration efforts and awarded him Ideal Personality award. We are proud to have him in our team as founding member of FWF.

Yogesh More

Pune

Yogesh More is in the Software industry for 20+ years, qualified as BE Computer Engineer from Pune University. He is working as Vice President in a Software MNC. 5 years ago, he bought a farm, at Vyahli, a village close to Kadabanwadi. Since then, he has successfully grown Guava, Pomegranate, and Moringa plantation. He has experimented with Banshee wheat, jowar, bajri, harbara, tur, chavali, turmeric, vegetables like palak, methi, kothimbir, and mohri, gavti chaha and shepu in the past using non-hybrid, desi seeds.
In the past 3 years, he has adopted natural farming methods , using the Palekarji’s SPNF method partially. He is highly motivated and influenced by Masanobu Fukuoka the great father of pure natural farming. His dream is to help convert every farmer to non-toxic, non-chemical, non-GM, natural farming, using desi indigenous seeds, growing the right food like millets, diverse veg and fruits. He also believes that bring a direct connect between urban consumers and the farmers will be highly beneficial to both communities. Yogesh says “We are on both sides, conscious consumers like all here, and farmers purely doing natural farming to set the model and motivate near-by farmers to go sustainable”. Apart from work and hobbies, Environment Sustainability, Yoga and Corporate Social Responsibility on the education have been his passion. Yogesh has helped set up Abhyasikas in slums to develop the personality of the kids and assist bridge the education gap so as to uplift that part of the society too. Yogesh, lives in Pune his wife , Sonali, a software professional for 15 years.

Now she’s launching her own natural skin care products company. They have two sons, Avyukt & Parth studying in New India School, Bhusari. Yogesh has joined us in our effort to restore forests and help restore biodiversity so that he and Sonali can leave a better world for their children.

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