The Western Regional Centre of TERI was set up in 1996. The Centre works at the interface between development and the environment and seeks to undertake research to help, develop, and promote policies and institutions for the sustainable use of natural resources. The Centre aims at policy research in the following areas:

Mining
Tourism
Watershed management
Coastal and marine resource management
Environment and institutions
Health-environment linkages
Land-use and land cover studies
Quality of life
Governance issues, and,
Population environment studies

The Centre endeavours, wherever possible, to disseminate information and promote implementations and suggestions arising through research, by interaction with decision-makers, intellectuals, other NGOs (non-governmental organizations), and the general public, and through publications and seminars. It aims at encouraging local skills, providing appropriate training facilities for capacity-building, and alternatives to ensure the sustainable use of natural resources.

The Centre is actively involved with the local community, assisting their efforts to conserve, improve and protect natural resources through comprehensive watershed management. Participation of the local population is sought so as to involve them in the development of plans for improvement of the ecological and environmental quality in the region. The Centre contributes to local thinking and provides intellectual inputs on sustainable development issues through representation in government committees, participation in seminars on local issues. The Centre also organizes training programmes on coastal policy issues, mining, and research methods.

The Centre is part of TERI’s Policy Analysis Division. Within this division its links are with the Centre for Environmental Studies, Modelling and Economic Analysis Area, and the Centre for Global Environmental Research. On a larger scale, the Centre has research links with the National Institute of Oceanography, the Goa University in Goa, the Centre of Fisheries Education in Mumbai, the National Ship Design and Research Centre in Vishakhapatnam, and the MERN (Mining and Energy Research Network), which is directed from the University of Warwick, Conventry, England. This network extends to over 50 institutes in 34 mineral and energy-producing countries. Through the projects undertaken, it has developed access to a European network of researchers in the U K, the Netherlands, Sweden, Italy, Portugal, and Spain.