SHALAR Foundation is a leading grassroots organization of Odisha in India trusted for its low- profile and committed civil society services that it has been rendering since its inception. It works for livelihood improvement of indigenous people, smallholder farmers through conservation of bio-diversity, ecological agriculture, land tenure & sustainable management of natural resources. The loss of biodiversity poses a serious threat to the key resource base of the natural-resource dependent poor; and with its firm belief in the ability of the local community to preserve biodiversity and manage natural resources sustainably, SHALAR Foundation has made constant efforts for the conservation of bio-diversity through its custodians – the farmers – who have nurtured crops & plants, livestock and fisheries for millennia. Its specific objective is to ensure sovereignty over seeds, soil, land, indigenous knowledge systems and natural resources all of which have been in a depleting state pushing its custodians in an apparently never-ending resource crisis.