Livelihood & Forestry, India
India-First · Global Think Tank · Est. 2025

Policy That
Protects
People & Planet

PolicyRoots works at the intersection of urban governance, forest conservation, rural livelihoods, and tourism policy — building the evidence, tools, and systems that make good policy stick.

Our Focus Areas Partner With Us
4
Core Focus Areas
6+
Active States
I²
Innovation × Inclusion
Urban Policy Forestry & Conservation Rural Livelihoods Tourism Policy AI-Enabled Governance Community-First Design Policy Implementation Evidence & Research Urban Policy Forestry & Conservation Rural Livelihoods Tourism Policy AI-Enabled Governance Community-First Design Policy Implementation Evidence & Research
Who We Are

Where Rigorous Research
Meets Real Change

PolicyRoots is a global think tank and consulting firm dedicated to four of India's most urgent policy frontiers: urban development, forest conservation, rural livelihoods, and tourism. We believe great policy is not written in offices — it is designed with communities and tested in the field.

We work with state governments, urban local bodies, forest departments, and community organisations — not just producing reports, but staying through implementation until the change is real and lasting.

Explore Our Focus Areas
Rural India
Indian city
Forest
Focus Areas

Four Domains.
One Mission.

Where policy gaps create the greatest human and ecological cost — and where targeted, community-designed intervention can unlock systemic change at scale.

Indian city aerial
Focus Area 01
Urban Policy & Governance

From municipal service delivery to land use planning — we design urban policy frameworks that make growing Indian cities liveable, equitable, and resilient. Our work spans NMT infrastructure, community farming integration, ward-level gap analysis, and AI-driven governance tools for rapidly expanding cities.

Explore Urban Work
India forest
Focus Area 02
Forestry & Conservation Policy

Designing forest governance frameworks that protect biodiversity while creating sustainable livelihoods for forest communities. Our work includes carbon credit access, mangrove conservation policy, and Joint Forest Management strengthening.

Explore Forestry Work
Rural livelihoods
Focus Area 03
Rural Livelihoods & Inclusion

Building income resilience for India's rural communities through FPO strengthening, value chain integration, SHG support, and social protection design — with equity and gender inclusion at the centre of every intervention.

Explore Livelihoods Work
Heritage tourism India
Focus Area 04
Tourism Policy & Local Economies

Shifting India's tourism model from destination marketing to livelihood-centric ecosystem design. We craft state tourism policies, heritage district management plans, and visitor flow systems that keep tourism revenues in local hands.

Explore Tourism Work
Featured Project

Latest from
PolicyRoots

Year 1–2 work that defines our approach — real governments, real communities, real outcomes.

Gujarat
Active Project · Tourism Policy
Govt of Gujarat · 2024–2025

Gujarat Tourism
Policy 2035

SectorTourism Policy & Local Economies
PartnerGovt of Gujarat, Garvi Gujarat
StageActive · Policy Design

Gujarat's tourism sector draws millions of visitors annually to sites like Rann of Kutch, Gir, and the Statue of Unity — yet the economic benefits rarely reach the communities living closest to these destinations. PolicyRoots was engaged to redesign the state's tourism policy from the ground up.

Moving away from destination marketing, we are building a livelihood-centric tourism ecosystem — where visitor flows are managed, local artisans are platform-enabled, and heritage landscapes are governed for long-term sustainability.

Next-generation state tourism policy with explicit inclusion outcomes and equity metrics
AI-driven demand forecasting and seasonality analysis tools for DMOs
Community-led heritage district management frameworks and toolkits
Local artisan discovery platform and market access programme
Impact: Higher local income retention, diversification beyond iconic sites, sustainable visitor management, and stronger heritage conservation incentives.
Read the Full Case Study
Our Work

Policy × Evidence
× Impact

Across urban governance, forest policy, livelihoods, and tourism — every engagement is structured around measurable outcomes and accountability from day one.

Ahmedabad NMT
Urban Policy · Ahmedabad Municipal Corp

Ahmedabad NMT Masterplan

A citywide walking and cycling infrastructure plan for CWG 2030 — AI pedestrian flow analysis, inclusive street design, vendor-friendly public spaces.

Read More
Mangrove conservation
Forestry Policy · Coastal Communities

Mangrove Conservation & Carbon Credit Access

Designing state mangrove governance policy and connecting coastal fishing communities to voluntary carbon markets through a transparent credit access platform.

Read More
Community farming
Livelihoods · Urban Development Authorities

Community Farming in Tier-2 Cities

GIS-based identification of urban land for community farming, paired with zoning reform and SHG governance models — food security and income for urban poor.

Read More
View All Projects
The Problem We Solve

India's Policy Gaps
Are Structural

Across urban governance, forests, livelihoods, and tourism — the same patterns appear: fragmented data, siloed institutions, and policies designed without the communities they affect. PolicyRoots closes these gaps — not with more reports, but with working systems.

68%
of India's urban local bodies lack adequate data systems for evidence-based planning
₹2.4T
estimated annual cost of poor targeting and implementation leakage in flagship schemes
23M
hectares of forest land where communities lack formal rights or benefit-sharing mechanisms
6%
share of tourism revenue that reaches local artisan and hospitality communities in tier-2 destinations
India governance
The Status Quo
The PolicyRoots Response
Urban planning without community data
AI-powered ward-level diagnostics and MIS
Forest rights excluded from conservation plans
Community-integrated forest governance design
Livelihoods as afterthought in development schemes
Equity engineered into targeting and delivery
Tourism revenue leaks out of destination communities
Livelihood-first tourism ecosystem frameworks
Policies lack operational feasibility or feedback loops
Implementation-first design with real-time course correction
Our Approach

Research. Build. Pilot.
Institutionalise.

We don't leave after the report.

Most policy organisations end at recommendations. PolicyRoots stays engaged through design, piloting, and implementation — until the change is embedded in the systems that will carry it forward.

Our Full Methodology
01

Research & Diagnostics

Deep sector diagnostics, political economy analysis, and community-level research that surfaces what data alone never shows — the human context of every policy problem.

Sector AnalysisPolitical EconomyCommunity Research
02

Policy Design & Tools

From state policy frameworks to AI dashboards and implementation toolkits — we build the instruments that convert research into governance action, designed with officials not just for them.

Policy FrameworksAI DashboardsToolkits
03

Pilot & Iterate

Real tests with ULBs, forest departments, and tourism authorities. Community anchors on the ground. Structured feedback loops that feed directly back into refinement.

Field PilotsUser TestingIteration
04

Scale & Embed

Converting pilots into replicable state-level policy toolkits, adoption frameworks, and capacity-building programmes — ensuring change outlasts our engagement.

Scale StrategyCapacity BuildingAdoption
Why It Matters

Impact Across
Every Dimension

From forest-dwelling communities to urban planning offices — we track and report outcomes that matter to real people, not just policy audiences.

Urban

City Governance

Ward-level data systems for ULBs
NMT infrastructure for safe cities
Community farming integration
Forest

Conservation Policy

Carbon credit access for communities
Mangrove governance frameworks
JFM committee strengthening
Livelihoods

Economic Inclusion

FPO and SHG market linkages
Value chain integration tools
Social protection design
Tourism

Local Economies

State tourism policy design
Artisan platform and market access
Heritage district management
India community impact

"We build what comes after the report — and we stay until it works."

PolicyRoots Commitment

How We Operate

Built for
Longevity

A hybrid model combining government contracts, philanthropic funding, private advisory, and academic collaboration — all outcomes-driven and accountability-first.

01 —

Government Contracts

Direct engagement with State Departments, Forest Departments, ULBs, and Tourism Boards for policy design and implementation.
State Tourism BoardsForest DeptsMunicipal Corps
02 —

Donor-Funded Programs

Grants from philanthropies and multilaterals targeting forest rights, livelihood resilience, tourism equity, and urban inclusion at scale.
LivelihoodsForest RightsTourism EquityUrban Resilience
03 —

Private Advisory & CSR

Strategic advisory for private sector and CSR programmes seeking to invest in forest communities, tourism value chains, and inclusive urban development.
ESG StrategyCSR DesignImpact Reports
04 —

Academic Partnerships

Joint research, visiting fellowships, and data sharing with Indian and global universities advancing forest, urban, livelihood, and tourism policy scholarship.
Joint ResearchFellowshipsPublications
The Path Forward

12–24 Month
Execution Roadmap

Four deliberate phases — from building the core team to institutionalising change across India's urban, forest, livelihood, and tourism policy landscape.

Q1 · Foundations
Establish the Core
Core team hire across four domains
Priority research briefs per sector
Platform MVP design
Government stakeholder mapping
Advisory board formation
Q2 · Launch & Pilot
First Real Tests
2 state-level pilot engagements
Forest community baseline surveys
Tourism policy first draft
MoUs with ULBs signed
Q3 · Evidence & Funding
Prove & Publish
First flagship policy report
Donor programme launch
Pilot iteration and refinement
Academic partner onboarding
Q4 · Scale & Embed
From Pilot to Policy
Scale to 3+ new states
Publish open-source toolkits
Institutional adoption milestones
Annual Impact Report
Work With Us

Ready to Build
Better Policy?

We are looking for anchor government partners, donors, and researchers ready to build India's most rigorous and most human policy innovation ecosystem — across urban governance, forests, livelihoods, and tourism.

Get In Touch Explore Focus Areas
01

State Government Partners

Tourism boards, forest departments, and ULBs ready for evidence-led policy with community-designed implementation.

02

Philanthropic Funders

Multi-year outcome-based grants aligned to forest rights, livelihood resilience, sustainable tourism, and inclusive urban development.

03

Research & Academic Partners

Joint research, visiting fellowships, data partnerships, and knowledge exchange across our four core policy domains.

04

Private Sector & CSR

Inclusive investment strategies, community tourism development, and ESG programmes with measurable ground-level impact.