About Us

INHERE (Institute of Himalayan Environmental Research and Education), the brainchild of Bharat Singh Bisht and his wife Sonali Bisht was established in 1982 in Chinoni, Almora in the beautiful and untouched valley of Uttarakhand’s Ramnganga river. Under the visionary leadership of the founders, whose combined commitment, expertise, and long-term engagement with mountain communities helped shape the organization into a nationally and internationally respected institution. Their work has significantly influenced sustainable agriculture, environmental stewardship, and rural livelihoods in the Himalayan region and beyond.

 

SONALI BISHT

 

A distinguished Indian environmentalist, researcher, and advocate for sustainable mountain development. A graduate in Political Science from Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), she made a conscious decision early in her career to devote herself to the rural grassroots rather than pursue a conventional administrative or academic path. Her work has since been marked by a rare combination of field engagement, policy advocacy, global leadership, and institution-building. As a founding force behind INHERE, Sonali championed biodiversity-based food security, women's empowerment, farmer livelihoods, and climate resilience across the Himalayan region. Her initiatives spanned action research, program design, community mobilization, and policy reform, placing INHERE at the forefront of mountain development in India.

 

Her international engagements included playing a significant role in the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) as South Asia Coordinator and serving on the Steering Committee of the Global Forum on Agricultural Research (GFAR), where she was its sole Indian member for four years. She advised the governments of India and Canada on environmental and rural development issues and was invited by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to represent civil society at the United Nations Climate Summit in 2014. Her address at the summit received notable recognition for its clarity, urgency, and authenticity. Sonali Bisht has worked across nearly every Indian state and union territory, as well as in Nepal and Bhutan. Her international field experience includes seven African countries namely Ghana, Senegal, Mali, Ethiopia, Tanzania, Kenya and South Africa and included engagements in Korea, the Philippines, Cambodia, Vietnam, Thailand, Turkey, Mexico, and Uruguay. Her deep understanding of local contexts, combined with global perspectives, enabled her to translate international best practices into meaningful interventions for Indian rural communities. Her work and publications on biodiversity, climate change adaptation, and sustainable agriculture have contributed significantly to national and international discourse. She is widely acknowledged for her integrity, visionary thinking, and lifelong dedication to mountain communities.

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BHARAT SINGH BISHT

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A native of Uttarakhand, and the main founder brought to INHERE a powerful commitment to the Himalayas and their people. With a background in science, he went on to do a Masters and M Phil in Regional Development from JNU. Deeply rooted in the culture and ecology of this region, he developed expertise in social work, organic agriculture, rural entrepreneurship, and community-based development. He had a vision for the mountain region and its people that encompassed a way of living in comfort and dignity which was in harmony with the natural environment. Bharat enunciated projects to conserve the rich agro-biodiversity of Uttarakhand and to secure food and nutrition for its people. As Director of INHERE and later of Mountain Organic Products Pvt. Ltd. (MOPPL), Bharat Singh Bisht played an essential role in strategizing, expanding, and operationalizing the organization's programs. Bharat also envisioned a multi layered health system that began with communities understanding their general and seasonal healthcare needs and how to take care of it with traditional herbal needs rising to more specialized care to reduce burden on the health system and also make health care affordable. His leadership emphasized inclusive development for marginalized farmers, women, and youth, revival of traditional food systems and biodiversity, grassroots institution-building including farmer producer groups, and market-linked livelihood solutions through organic practices and value-added processing. His practical insights and entrepreneurial orientation complemented Sonali's policy and global advocacy roles, creating a balanced and dynamic leadership model.

 

TOGETHER, they built INHERE into a respected institution known for innovation, integrity, and community-centered development.

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INHERE emerged from a shared realization by Sonali and Bharat that the Himalayan region required a development approach rooted in local knowledge, ecological balance, and community participation. Under their stewardship, INHERE developed localized food and farming systems grounded in biodiversity, implemented organic certification and training programs long before they became mainstream, created community institutions for collective action and market access, led research and advocacy efforts for mountain-specific development policies, built networks with agencies such as FAO, GFAR, and various Indian ministries, and worked across diverse geographies, influencing national dialogues on sustainable agriculture and rural governance. Their approach combined rigorous fieldwork with strong policy engagement, enabling INHERE's models to be replicated across India and internationally.

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INHERE's initiatives, shaped by the leadership of both founders, contributed to enhanced incomes for thousands of mountain farmers, widespread adoption of organic agriculture in Uttarakhand, strengthened traditional ecological knowledge systems, demonstrated models for climate-resilient rural development, and greater visibility of Himalayan issues in global forums. Sonali and Bharat's complementary strengths—Sonali's policy vision and global advocacy, and Bharat's grassroots innovation and organizational leadership—created a synergy that propelled INHERE to prominence.

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Today, INHERE stands as one of India's leading institutions dedicated to mountain communities and sustainable rural development. The lifelong contributions of Sonali Bisht and Bharat Singh Bisht continue to guide and inspire development practitioners, policymakers, and community leaders. Their legacy is defined by an unwavering commitment to marginalized communities, a holistic approach to environmental sustainability, and the successful integration of local wisdom with global knowledge systems.