The Shillim Institute is located in Shillim valley, within a rural setting of rice fields and villages surrounded by forested ridges and open grasslands. It enjoys views of Tungi and Tikona forts among hills of the Sahyadri with their unique and striking forms. Numerous streams run down the steep wooded slopes, joining the main river at the valley floor.

The Shillim Institute embarks upon a continuing quest rather than a new journey: to co-exist with our environment in a way that benefits humankind and nature alike and guarantees a sustainable legacy to those who follow in our path.

The Shillim Institute will advance the understanding of sustainable development, the interrelationship between human civilization and the ecology of the area, and will provide programmes to translate that knowledge for use by students, citizens and policy makers alike.

It will include a diversity of educational methods including research, monitoring, teaching, dialogue and debate. The Institute's programmes will be designed for all levels of formal education from primary school to postdoctoral fellowships and the full spectrum of informal education from the general public to managers and politicians. Learning is the basis of the Institute's mission; this is the spirit and practice that permeates its programmes and that links the staff, visitors, local people and the public.

The Institute will study the impact of human activity on the ecosystem as a whole and then address and discuss sustainable and workable solutions with all the stakeholders. It will build on existing research in this area and become a centre for the creation, storage and dissemination of information. The Institute will aim to realise the vision of sustainable development strategies on the home site. The experience gained and lessons learned at Shillim will then be offered to the broader world. Successes and failures will be documented and provide real-time information useful in the classroom and site-visit demonstrations. It would deal with research in the following areas:

• Socio-economic development of the rural Western Ghats
• Organic and natural farming methods of high food production with low inputs
• Development of sustainable, non-polluting energy systems
• Alternative and local health traditions
• Biodiversity of local flora and fauna
• Reforestation and propagation of native flora
• Rainwater harvesting and ground water recharging techniques
• Creation of wetlands and the ecological treatment of waste water
• Development of soil erosion prevention methods