About Us

We started in 1986 as a small group of nature enthusiasts to bring environmental awareness to the people. Our aim was to raise an environmentally conscious generation by conducting studies on natural history and bringing environmental education to schools and colleges.
Our transformation from nature enthusiasts to serious environmental activists was triggered by the rise in pesticide use and pesticide related illness, increasing deforestation, improper handling of urban waste and other alarming issues.
From the 1970s to the 2000s over 50000 villagers in the district of Kasargod were plagued by convulsions, physical deformities, congenital anomalies and cancer. These maladies were traced to the pesticide Endosulfan sprayed over the cashew plantations.
In 1998, along with the local community, e launched a highly vocal and public campaign, which resulted in the State Government putting a ban on Endosulfan use. Later following up with studies, national debates, petitions and advocacy, India banned Endosulfan in 2011.
Today, we are changing the toxic side of farming to a healthy one through our social enterprises – the Oganic Bazaar, and the Agro-Ecology Centre. This initiative provides thousands of consumers access to safe and nutritious food, while enhancing the quality of life of hundreds of farmers.
We also have a national movement to revive the lost glory of our farming, through the Save our Rice Campaign. Thousands of farmers in five states are today adopting ecological farming practices, conserving and cultivating traditional varieties of high quality seeds, and ensuring the supply of orgnaic rice to consumers across these states.
Our efforts to stop the hazardous burning of waste led to the Zero Waste Campaign. We now run the Zero Waste Centre at Kovlam, a regional hub for training communities on Zero Waste management. We also facilitate some very successful Zero Waste initiatives, the most satisfying of this being the Zero Waste Himalayas, involving two countries and six Indian states.
Our Vision
People, Planet, Sustainability
Our Mission
Crafting change for the future
Strategies
Steering critical campaigns and programmes directly
Providing a knowledge and support platform for social entrepreneurs, researchers and change agents
Mentoring and developing children and youth as green citizens of the future

Board of Trustees

Thanal Trust was expanded in 2014 with a seven member team representing different walks of life sharing a common vision ‘ People, Planet and Sustainability’.
Dr. Sharadini Rath
President
Mr. Shyam Krishnan J
Secretary
Mr. A.V. George
Mr. Jayakumar C
Ms.Reena TN
Ms. Usha Dharmangadan

Executive Board

President, Secretary and a Trustee forms the Executive Board of Trustees. Executive Board is authorized by the Board of Trustees to sign on behalf of Board of Trustees.

Mr. Jayakumar C
Mr. Shyam Krishnan J
Secretary
Dr. Sharadini Rath
President

Advisory Board

Board of Advisors provide technical help and strategy advices to Team Thanal in its programmes and projects.
Mr. Nityanand Jayaraman
Mr. Shailendra Yashwant
Mr. Devinder Sharma
Dr. Narasimha Reddy
Mr. Ponnambalam R
Secretary

Program Management Team

Programme Management Team is responsible for planning and implementing the programmes and projects of Thanal.
Ms.Lekshmi Kannan
Mr. Jayakumar C
Dileep Kumar
Deepak R
Manju M Nair
Sangeetha Pradeep
Raju S
Ms. Ushakumari S
Brig. Oommen John (Retd.)

Network Memberships

GAIA is a worldwide alliance of more than 800 grassroots groups, non-governmental organizations, and individuals in over 90 countries whose ultimate vision is a just, toxic-free world without incineration.

Established in 1998, IPEN is currently comprised of 700 participating organizations in 116 countries, primarily developing and transition countries. IPEN brings together leading environmental and public health groups around the world to establish and implement safe chemicals policies and practices that protect human health and the environment around the world.

Pesticide Action Network Asia and the Pacific (PAN AP) is one of the five regional centres of Pesticide Action Network, a global network primarily dedicated to eliminating harm caused to humans and the environment by pesticides and to promoting sustainable biodiversity-based ecological agriculture (BEA).

Health Care Without Harm was founded in 1996 after the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency identified medical waste incineration as the leading source of dioxins, one of the most potent carcinogens. In response to this grave threat, 28 organizations came together in Bolinas, California to form the Health Care Without Harm coalition.

Zero Waste Himalayas

ZeroWaste Himalayas is a network of individuals, institutions, governments across Himalayas striving for achieving Zero Waste to protect the serenity of Himalayas and its eco systems.

Zero Waste International Alliance

The Zero Waste International Alliance has been established to promote positive alternatives to landfill and incineration and to raise community awareness of the social and economic benefits to be gained when waste is regarded as a resource base upon which can be built both employment and business opportunity.

GM Free India

The Coalition for a GM-Free India is a loose, informal network of scores of organizations and individuals from across India, campaigning and advocating to keep India GM-Free, and to shift our farming towards a sustainable path. Consisting of farmers', consumers', environmental, women's and other organizations, this network is opposed to the environmental release of Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs).

ASHA

ASHA (Alliance for Sustainable & Holistic Agriculture) is a large, nation-wide informal network of more than 400 organisations drawn from 20 states of India, that have come together in 2010 to organise a Kisan Swaraj Yatra, a nation-wide mobilisation to draw attention to issues pertaining to our FOOD, FARMERS, FREEDOM.

Kerala Paristhithi Aikyavedi

Kerala Paristhithi Aikyavedi is a network of organizations and individuals in the field of environment and sustainability in Kerala.

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