Ashish Kothari began working on environment and development issues in his school days in 1978-79, as one of the founders of Kalpavriksh, an Indian environmental NGO. A graduate in Sociology, Ashish has taught environment at the Indian Institute of Public Administration in the 1990s, and been guest faculty at several universities, institutes, and colleges. He has been Co-Chair of the IUCN Inter-commission Strategic Direction on Governance, Equity, and Livelihoods in Relation to Protected Areas (TILCEPA) (1999-2008), and in the same period a member of the Steering Committees of the World Commission on Protected Areas (WCPA), and IUCN Commission on Environmental, Economic, and Social Policy (CEESP). He has served on the Board of Directors of Greenpeace International, and currently chairs Greenpeace India’s Board. He has also been on the steering group of the CBD Alliance.