Saurin Nanavanti
Saurin built his career working with farming communities in tropical agriculture supply chains (coffee, cocoa, cotton, banana). He spent 20 years working in rural areas, learning about the crops, cultures and land use, in order to develop projects that improve farmer access to markets, finance and information. Through this work he founded Ethos Agriculture (www.ethosag.com), a design firm dedicated to co-designing initiatives with rural communities through trade, research and development.
Saurin feels it is vital for rural communities to have agency in the design of initiatives and supply chains to ensure the protection of their environments, people and values. Saurin's research interests include:
- examining the relevant (collective) conditions needed to transform rural communities into centers of innovation
- exploring the intersection of agroforestry, conservation and ecosystem services
- understanding the importance of biocultural identity, traditional ecological knowledge and spirituality in the promotion of sustainable landscape programs