Profile of Arun

Arun was born in Calcutta, schooled in Mumbai and Chennai and completed his Mechanical engineering in Bangalore. He spent 17 years in Dubai, 2 years in Germany and since 2017 has shifted his overseas business back to Mangalore. He has business interests in Stocks, Mutual Funds, Tax services, Legal services, Forest and large landscape conservation, Bio-diversity indexation, Organic rubber and bamboo plantations with offices in Bejai, Mangalore

He has worked with St Aloysius college and St Agnes College on the 2022 Earth Overshoot Day quiz which attracted 4,400 entries. He has worked with Arjun Mascarenhas in Aloysius's biodiversity hotspot better known as Alvana. He is a member of the Society for Forest, Environment and Climate Change (SFECC) and a trustee of Sankhe Trust which owns and operates the Kanthavara Forest Basecamp, 42 km from Mangalore.

Since Oct 2023 Kanthavara Forest Basecamp had conducted educational Study tours for over 1,000 students and visitors. Tours offered are

1. Broken Forest - Study Tour
2. Laudato Si - Study Tour
3. Bamboo farming and applications - Study tour

Arun is also a permanent life member of national conservation organisations such as Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS), Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH) & Bamboo Society of India (BSI)

Aranya Mala Project: Arun in currently involved in the Aranya Mala initiative which envisages connecting several protected areas in the region to each other and further on to Kudremukh National Park. Fragmentation of forests and wild spaces has led to a dramatic loss of bio-diversity which in turn undermines the bio-physical foundations of modern civilization. Arun works under the guidance of stalwarts in the field of conservation and also counts several young interns and volunteers in his team.

Click here for the Kanthavara Forest Basecamp story