📣 Political Advocacy
Activities
National and International Advocacy
In 1989, TBS and village partners discussed how mining in the Aravallis—near Sariska—was undermining johads. Dr. Singh concluded blasting had opened fractures in aquifers; communities needed relief. In 1990 TBS petitioned the Supreme Court to close those mines; in 1991 the Court ordered a stop, and in 1992 the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests restricted mining in parts of the range. To press state compliance, TBS and allies staged an 800-km march across four states. Dr. Singh walked from Himmatnagar, Gujarat, toward Delhi from 2 October 1993 for over four months. Advocacy of this kind contributed to closing some 28,000 mines by 1996. By 2001–02, TBS was contesting the 2002 National Water Policy, fearing it would deepen privatized control of water. The Rashtriya Jal Chetna Yatra crossed 320 districts in 30 states over fourteen months. That campaign helped launch Rashtriya Jal Biradari (RJB), a national forum in 2001 that ran roughly a decade—public meetings, riparian problem-solving, outreach to ministers and officials, and litigation where needed. In the 2020s, Jal Biradari linked to global drought-and-flood dialogue; the network claims more than 1,000 members and bodies such as the Indian Himalayan River Basin Council and the Indian Peninsular River Basin Council. With TBS vice chairman Professor G.D. Agarwal (environmentalist, former IIT Kanpur dean), the organization pressed for the Ganga. From 2008 his fasts—including over damming the Bhagirathi headstream—drew national attention. In February 2009, one outcome was national-river status for the Ganga and creation of the National Ganga River Basin Authority (NGBRA).
Deep Economic Code Work
The deepest layer addresses the “economic code” of the place—alliances among academia, institutions, and government to move beyond GDP toward more holistic metrics that shape decisions and finance. The tension is to pair a bold horizon with practical next steps.
Local Governance Innovation
They partnered with the Graton Community Services District (sewer) to broaden its mandate toward parks, recreation, and eventually ecosystem services and recommoning. The district now holds the town square and additional public space, with more planned. They also work with the Gold Ridge Resource Conservation District—linking formal institutions to an informal web of residents, businesses, and volunteers.
Legal Innovation and Policy Development
The Legal Innovation Team supports Forever Sabah with strategic legal analysis—entry points in statute for a circular economy, and space to prototype policy, legal, and institutional options. It works with civil society, lawyers, and scholars to review Sabah land and environmental law, compare international models, and track relevant global processes. An initial output is a multimedia handbook on Sabah land and environmental law, with briefs summarising key laws, policies, and institutions in plain language.
Findhorn Watershed Deer Forum
The Catchment Deer Forum aligns stalkers, gamekeepers, and other land managers so deer densities support both woodland regeneration and viable stalking. It connects herbivore pressure to tree survival and peatland recovery, while keeping venison in local supply chains—pairing ecological goals with rural food economies across fragmented ownership.
Traditional Knowledge in Governance
The cooperative is entering a cooperative service agreement with the Natural Resource Conservation Service (NRCS) so these bioregional models can guide program funding—for example, funding agroforestry only where traditional practice indicates agroforestry fits, avoiding projects that mismatch place. Early thinking also asks how this bioregional lens could inform legislation and public land management in Hawaiʻi today—a bridge from Indigenous and place-based knowledge into contemporary governance.
Bay Delta Governance Innovation
Governance innovation proceeds along four connected lines: partnering with aligned institutions; targeted education for agencies (including taking water-district officials on watershed tours); engaging private landowners in restoration; and experimenting with “partner state”–style arrangements that widen who stewards decisions. The work connects to existing funding streams—such as California’s nature-based solutions programs—while building skills and relationships for bioregional-scale coordination.
ASHA International Advocacy
The Alliance engages in significant advocacy with national governments in the region as well as international organizations. A recent example is their campaign supporting the referendum in Ecuador to keep oil in the ground in the important Indigenous (Yasuní) region of the Amazon, which passed successfully. The Alliance is now monitoring to ensure compliance with the referendum results.