Vaishnavi is a climate and land reporter with Scroll.in. Prior to that, between 2019 and 2022 she worked as an environment lead with The Bastion, a development journalism portal based in India. Here, she took lead on environment analysis and ground reports around land, rivers, forests, and climate in rural and urban India. Vaishnavi is trained as a public policy practitioner, having done her Masters in Public Policy and Governance from Azim Premji University, Bengaluru. Before stepping into journalism, Vaishnavi worked with environmental NGOs and ground movements–Foundation for Ecological Security in Gujarat, and Himdhara Environment Collective in Himachal Pradesh. Her work in these institutions was around governance of commons and the implementation of Forest Rights Act in Himachal Pradesh.
Her work has bagged her the Prem Bhatia Memorial Trust’s Award 2021 for development journalism, and the Laadli Media and Advertising awards for Gender Sensitivity 2022. She has also received national and international reporting fellowships to support her ground work on women and land rights in Gujarat, COP26, and solution stories from India. Vaishnavi enjoys running, trekking, and birding.
Beat: Environment