Your Own Sacred Sahyadri. We will help you reforest a barren piece of commons land which will be cared for by the local farmers and which will be treated as a Sacred Grove. This will be protected from grazing and wildfire and the medicianl trees and herbs grown here will provde livelihoods for the villagers. The Devrai will be named after you in consultation with the CFRMC. Cost: Rs 75000 apprx per acre.
This year, something beautiful took root in Nimon block of Nashik district, Maharashtra.
As we signed MOU with MHADA to plant 15,000 saplings across Nimon and Daregaon, we hold a promise to heal the land, to bring back green and to leave behind shade for the next generation.
Grateful to every hand that dug, every heart that believed.
Thank you MHADA for being a solid support in this journey!
Raah Foundation’s Centre for Policy Research and Action is a civil-society think tank rooted in the Northern Western Ghats, translating community knowledge into actionable, just policy. It is developing a bi-monthly series of thematic/position papers and has already produced two significant research outputs, including a journal publication and a youth survey-led study. The Centre also convenes curated webinars to share insights, shape discourse, and strengthen cross-sector relationships. Looking ahead, it will engage more directly with government systems—offering research-backed inputs, co-designing pilots, and participating in consultative forums to inform regional public policy.
The GRT Research Fellowship is an 8-week, immersive programme that places young researchers at the intersection of climate, gender, and indigenous knowledge. Its first edition focuses on the lived experiences of indigenous women in the Northern Western Ghats, combining academic inquiry with community-centred engagement. Fellows move through three phases—orientation on ethical methods, a literature review, and fieldwork with interviews—culminating in analysis and a comprehensive report. The inaugural cohort features four women from the social and natural sciences, building a pipeline of researchers trained in both rigour and field sensitivity.
The Western Ghats are under pressure – and the consequences extend far beyond the mountains.
The region receives extraordinary monsoon rainfall, yet many communities face water scarcity within months. Forest loss, soil degradation, changing rainfall patterns and fragile livelihoods reinforce one another, making both people and landscapes more vulnerable to climate change. The impacts are already being felt, making it critical to act now before these pressures become harder and more costly to reverse. What happens here matters far beyond the Ghats. The Western Ghats regulate water, support biodiversity, sustain agriculture and provide livelihoods for millions of people. The window to restore these systems is now.
Because lasting change cannot come from treating water, farms and forests as separate problems.
They are part of a larger landscape, shaped by distinct rainfall patterns, water flows and hydrogeology. Therefore, context specific solutions are designed by- helping landscapes retain water, enabling farmers to adopt climate-resilient practices, restoring degraded ecosystems and strengthening local institutions that can sustain change. We combine community knowledge, science and regenerative innovation to build solutions that work in the realities of the Northern Western Ghats – and can be adapted elsewhere. Our ambition is simple: healthier landscapes, stronger livelihoods and communities better equipped to thrive in a changing climate.
