In 1975, a motivated group of students, researchers and faculty of the Ecology lab of the Botany department of Uttar Pradesh's Gorakhpur University, influenced by the Chipko Movement at home and the Stockholm Conference of 1972 formed the Gorakhpur Environmental Action Group (GEAG) to preserve the local environment and conserve natural resources. Many local awareness and environmental education campaigns in solidarity with various contemporary national and international environmental movements widened the ideological horizons of the GEAG.
In 1983 the informal organization was registered as a non-profit organization under the Society's Registration Act, 1960. Since then GEAG has emerged as a well established implementing, resource, consultative and support organization in northern India on sustainable agriculture, sustainable livelihood models, adaptation to climate change, gender equity and rights of small and marginal farmers across the state.
Vision
A vibrant learning organization constantly maintaining its thematic and strategic relevance to the constantly changing needs and aspirations of the communities it works with or for, that is able to meaningfully share the lessons of its experience and research with other collaborating institutions and individuals in a spirit of reciprocity and mutually and that is able to generate adequate financial, knowledge and other resources through its own means such that it can freely pursue its vision, mission and values, and function as an autonomous institution of repute in the areas of environmental sustainability and ecological balance.
Programmatic Vision
Democratically governed diverse village communities in Uttar Pradesh living in a spirit of harmony and brotherhood guided by strong cultural bonds, functioning as efficient, semi-autonomous agro-based socio-economic units, relating with their relevant external environments on transactional basis, where in livelihood, dignity and other basic rights of all village people-especially the economically challenged small and marginal farmers, and landless labourers, are adequately secured through practices and institutions that rely substantially on local resources and produce, are environmentally sustainable, and ecologically balanced.
Mission
Having acquired considerable knowledge and experience base in GEAG’s programmatic themes for almost three decades, and established workable levels of deliverable system therefore, to consolidate GEAG’s learning–conceptual as well as systemic, and the gain thereof and to upscale gender sensitive interventions-laterally as well as in-depth as resource, networking and advocacy institution, by upgrading futurist knowledge, skills and competencies, and securing higher degree of financial self-reliance, with a view to becoming sustainable and more effectively realizing GEAG’s programmatic mission.
Programmatic Mission
Using GEAG’s success, experiences and proven development models for promoting livelihood of economically challenged agriculture-based communities, through eco-sustainable agriculture methods and technologies, to refine and scale-up interventions through diverse roles, such as:
