Apurva Bhandari

Founder

Apurva Bhandari is the founder of SankalpTaru Foundation (2011)[1], an Indian non-profit working on environment and livelihood from Dehradun.

Apurva Bhandari is the founder of the SankalpTaru Foundation, an environmental non-governmental organisation based in Dehradun, Uttarakhand, which uses information technology to run tree-planting and ecosystem restoration programmes across India.

SankalpTaru allows donors anywhere to fund the planting of a tree, which is then planted by a farmer or other beneficiary on the ground. Each tree is geo-tagged and given an individual record with its coordinates, photographs and beneficiary details, so that donors can trace the tree they paid for.

Early life and education

Bhandari's connection with the natural world was formed in the Uttarakhand Himalayas. He holds an MBA in oil and gas management and spent several years working in the information technology industry, including in the United States, before returning to India to found SankalpTaru.

Career

Bhandari founded SankalpTaru in 2012, having won The Times of India's 'Take Care, Take Charge' initiative in July 2011, which he has described as the starting point of the organisation. His aim was to combine his work in technology with environmental restoration.

The foundation's programmes cover afforestation, ecosystem restoration, water conservation, environmental awareness and nutrition, and it operates in 28 Indian states and union territories. Alongside geo-tagging it has adopted blockchain record-keeping, an internet-of-things monitoring device for tree health and irrigation, and soil health assessment. SankalpTaru is an official actor of the United Nations Decade on Ecosystem Restoration.[2][3][4][5][6]

SankalpTaru Foundation

SankalpTaru is a technology-enabled environmental NGO focused on afforestation, ecosystem restoration and water conservation across India. It plants and maintains trees for rural and urban communities, geo-tagging saplings so supporters can track their plantations.

SankalpTaru Foundation reports the following, on its own site: