Symposium Announcement Programme

Lead Speakers

Speakers Brief CV
Mr. B.K. Singh Mr. B.K. Singh is an IFS officer of the J&K cadre, presently serving as Additional Director General (Forestry), Ministry of Environment Forest & Climate Change. He has a Masters degree in Physics, Forestry and also in Public Policy & Management from IIS, The Hague, Netherlands. He has served as DFO in many forest divisions. He held the position of Director in NAEB, IFS Division, Administration, Green India Mission in the Ministry of Environment, Forest & Climate Change for 11 years. He also played a key role in the formulation of Saw Mill Rules and Khair Extraction Rules in J&K. He also worked as Joint Secretary in MHRD and as Commissioner, Navodaya Vidyalaya for around 5. He was the Principal Secretary-School Education, of the J&K Government, Chairman of the JK Board of School Education and Director JK State Council of Education and Research. As ADG (Forestry) he is looking after Survey & Utilisation Division, Research & Training Division, Forest Protection division, Desertification Cell including UNCCD, NAEB, and Green India Mission. Mr. B.K. Singh led the Indian delegation in COP 15 of the Convention on Biological Diversity as Lead Negotiator.
Mr. Bharat Jyoti Mr. Bharat Jyoti is Director of Indira Gandhi National Forest Academy, Dehradun - leading the capacity building of the IFS and SFS cadre and other services in Forestry. 36 years in the Indian Forest Service with diverse assignments, including significant engagements in policy and governance functions encompassing environmental subjects of Environmental Pollution, Climate Change, Wetlands Conservation, Management of Forestry Research and Extension. Having exposure to governance and administration in the national institute of higher education and research in science- IISER-TVM.
Dr. Mark Stephen John Broadmeadow Dr. Mark Broadmeadow is the Forestry Commission’s Head of Climate Change and is also the policy lead for afforestation. He previously led Forest Research’s Climate Change Research Programme and Environmental Change Research Group, covering forest monitoring and climate change adaptation/ mitigation and is a plant physiologist by training. He is currently seconded to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs’ forestry policy team, leading on Environment Act statutory targets, the National Adaptation Programme and forestry’s contribution to Net Zero.
Dr. Georg Rappold Dr. Georg Rappold began his professional career in 2001 as head of secretariat of the "Austrian Forest Dialogue" in the Austrian Federal Ministry for Agriculture, Forestry, Regions and Water Management. Furthermore, in his capacity as Expert in forest and sustainable policy, he represented Austria in various European, international, multilateral and global bodies and processes. In 2015, he was promoted to the head office of the Forest Director General. As Head of Strategy, Controlling and Communication he was in charge of strategic matters with regard to national and international forest and sustainability policy, public relations and communication as well as science and research programs. In 2020, he was appointed as Head of the Division "Wood-based value chain". He holds an MBA (Public Management) from the University of Salzburg (Austria), and a PhD (Natural Science) from the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences (Austria).
Dr. Sugato Dutt Dr. Sugato Dutt, an Indian Forest Service officer with widespread experience in Biodiversity Conservation and Sustainable Development, gained consummate knowledge of policies, safeguards and conservation best practice at the species, habitat and ecosystem levels. On sabbatical at the East West Centre at Honolulu he researched Conservation and Livelihoods in Protected Areas of Bangladesh. As Member Secretary of the Tamil Nadu State Planning Commission he developed an inter-departmental programme supporting water and production landscapes and connected livelihoods in Western Ghats. He retained his expertise in habitat management working on invasive species in both aquatic and terrestrial habitats at Tamil Nadu.
Mr. Lokesh Jayaswal Mr. Lokesh Jayaswal, is a senior level career professional from the Indian Forest Service (IFS), working as Principal Chief Conservator of Forests & Chief Executive Officer, Compensatory Afforestation Fund Management & Planning Authority (CAMPA) in the Forest Department of Telangana State in India. He holds a Master of Science degree in “Environment & Sustainable Development” from the prestigious “The Bartlett Development Planning Unit at University College London (UCL)” at London, United Kingdom. Prior to that, he did Bachelor of Technology degree in civil engineering from IIT, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, India.
Mr. Jayaswal is involved in planning & implementation of various activities related to compensatory afforestation, natural forest management, forest protection, biodiversity conservation, forest fire management, information technology & communication etc. for the conservation & development of forests & wildlife in the state of Telangana. He brings with him the experience of over thirty five years in the Indian Forest Service in various capacities including forest rejuvenation, leadership in urban development, poverty alleviation, silviculture, climate change mitigation and adaptation.
Dr. G.S. Rawat Dr. G.S. Rawat, former Senior Scientist and Dean at the Wildlife Institute of India, has been actively engaged in teaching, research and academic activities since last 40 years. His areas of research include eco-floristic studies in the Himalayan region, Ecology and Management of Alpine rangelands, and animal-habitat interactions. He has published over 300 papers and articles on above areas. He is a Fellow of National Academy of Sciences – India and served as a member of several national and international bodies dealing with assessment of biodiversity and ecosystem services, eco-restoration and management of invasive alien species.
Dr. Madhu Verma Dr. Madhu Verma is the Senior Economic Adviser at the IORA Ecological Solutions, New Delhi. Prior to joining IORA in February 2023, she worked as Chief Economist at the World Resources Institute (WRI), New Delhi India 2019- 2023; as Professor of Environment & Developmental Economics at the Indian Institute of Forest Management, an MoEFCC organization for 25 years and for Ten years with Bhopal University and Govt of Madhya Pradesh. Her expertise includes Ecosystem Services Valuation & Green Accounting, Conservation Finance, Payment for Ecosystem Services, and Incentive Based Mechanisms mainly for Forests. Wetlands, Rivers, Land, Desert, Marine & Coastal, Grasslands and Himalayan Ecosystems and nature Based Solutions for several international organisations and Indian Ministries and state departments. She is a Fulbright Nehru Environmental Leadership Fellow, USA (2012); LEAD UK Fellow (2007) and World Bank Fellowship awardee (2001). And has more than 50 papers and 50 + reports to her credit. Co-authored Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (2004-06); The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity (TEEB) and Intergovernmental Science and Policy Platform for Biodiversity and Ecosystem services (IPBES) (2013-conti.) At IORA she has been advising of similar such projects on biodiversity valuation, green accounting, payment for ecosystem services for USAID, UNDP etc. and several Ministries & state governments. Before leaving WRI, she accomplished WRI’s Flagship study on ‘Approaches for Doubling Farmers Income in India - Agroecological System based Considerations’ including Economics of Nature Based Solutions.
Dr. Monica Gabay Dr. Monica Gabay has over 30 years of experience in community forestry, governance, traditional forest-related knowledge and sustainable livelihoods for rural communities. She holds an MBA (Strategic Management) from the University of Belgrano and the University of Barcelona, and a PhD (Social Science) from the Latin American Faculty of Social Science. She coordinates IUFRO’s Division 9 Forest Policy and Economy. She is a professor and independent researcher at the National University of San Martin and a Senior Advisor at the Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development in Argentina, and participates in international negotiations in that capacity, including within the framework of the Convention on Biological Diversity and the G20. Monica is also a member of the board of the Argentine Institute of Water Resources (IARH). She is author and coauthor of papers and book chapters on governance, public policy and regulation, natural resources management, and community forestry.
Dr. RC Dhiman Dr. Dhiman holds a PhD degree in Silviculture. He has worked in forest department, training institute, Forestry University, Forest Research Institute Dehradun and now in private sector. He worked as unit head of Wimco Seedlings. He has extensively worked on agroforestry promotion, research and extension and has published over 200 papers in international, and national peer reviewed journals, a dozen books, brochures, and national reports . He has received many awards; Dr. Tejwani award on agroforestry, ICAR-CAFRI, 2015-16; FAO (IPC- award) for poplar and willow work 2012 and ICFRE award for forestry education (1997) to name a few. Dr Dhiman has visited many countries for consultancies, research and academic exchange.
Dr. Chandrashekhar Biradar Dr Biradar is presently the Country Director-India & Chief of Party-TOFI, CIFOR-ICRAF, New Delhi. Dr Biradar has a multidisciplinary educational background, with M.Sc. Forestry (Tree Improvement and Genetic Resources), and a Ph.D. in Environmental Sciences and Earth Observation Systems.
Before joining CIFOR-ICRAF, he worked with IWMI, ICARDA, University of New Hampshire, University of Oklahoma, and IIRS-ISRO. Dr. Biradar has over 21 years of experience serving as a Researcher, Principal Scientist, Manager, Head of Units, and Research Team Leader and has published over 400 research articles, tools, and products and received several national and international awards. His current research for development is focused on scaling tree-based systems through harnessing advances in augmentation of digital technologies, indigenous knowledge and citizen science to restore functional agroecosystems towards green economic transition and stewardship for ecologically sustainable and economically viable landscapes, livelihoods and lifestyle.
Dr. Shirong LIU Dr. Shirong LIU is the president of the Chinese Academy of Forestry and chief research scientist in the field of forest ecology. He is the vice president of IUFRO in charge of Task Forces, and a board member of INTECOL and vice president of Chinese Society of Forestry. Dr. Shirong LIU holds PhD degree in forest ecology at the Northeast Forestry University, PR. China. He has been working on forest ecosystem ecology and forest eco-hydrology at Chinese Academy of Forestry since 1990. During his Post-doctoral studies from the Institute of Ecology and Resource Management, University of Edinburgh, UK, he worked on impacts of climate change on forests and trees. His research fields are forest eco-hydrology, long term watershed hydrology and watershed management, landscape ecology, and forest carbon cycling. The current ongoing research includes ecosystem processes, forest carbon sequestration, and their responses to climate change in warm temperate natural forests and in subtropical planted forests in China.
Dr. Sudhir Kumar Dr Sudhir Kumar is presently working as Deputy Director General and is responsible for Coordination of the extension programme of ICFRE and Environmental related scientific consultancy studies at National Level. He has worked on more than 200 technical reports that includes National level FGR , Planning Commission Documents, Monitoring &evaluation, R & R Plan for mining sector, EIA/EMP, Carrying Capacity, cumulative impact assessment for various developmental projects such as hydropower, mining and sustainability assessment such as Environmental Audit, Environment Performance Indexing for open cast coal mine ; economic assessment of forest loss due mine for decision making.
Dr. M. Madhu Dr Madhu is presently serving as Director, ICAR-IISWC, Dehradun, Uttarakhand. He completed his master and post-graduation studies from University of Agricultural Sciences (UAS), GKVK, Bengaluru, Karnataka. During 28 years of service, he has contributed significantly towards the development of soil and water conservation measures in tea plantation, assessed the rainwater use efficiency of tea and estimated crop management of the USLE for tea crop. Developed and demonstrated improved micro-site condition for rehabilitation of wastelands. He has contributed significantly for preparation of Soil Erosion Maps of Tamil Nadu and Kerala, and Characterization and Zonation of Eastern Ghats. Dr Madhu has organized a large number (173) of capacity building programmes for senior level officers to the field functionaries. He is associated in 20 consultancy projects and is recipient of many prestigious fellowships and awards : USDA Global Research Alliance (GRA) Fellowship Programme-2011, Vasantrao Naik Award-2013, IASWC Gold Medal-2010, IASWC-Fellow-2014, Dr K.G. Tejwani Award for Management of Natural Resources for the biennial 2016-2017 and ICAR-Team Research Award-2017, to name a few. He had more than 200 publications in his credit including research papers, edited books, book chapters, manuals, technical reports and bulletins, etc., and is a member of many professional bodies.
Dr. Wubalem Tadesse Dr Tadesse is serving in different international organizations and local professional associations: International Union of Forest Research Organizations (IUFRO, President’s nominee for Africa and Board member), Forestry Research Network for Sub-Saharan Africa (FORNESSA, as a Board member), Ethiopian Academy of Sciences (Fellow), Ethiopian Forestry Society (member and Chair of the Advisory Board), Ethio Natural Resources Organization (Founder and Director), Green Art for Environmental Protection and Social Development Organization (Board Member).
He holds Ph.D. degree from Polytechnic University of Madrid, Spain. Dr Tadesse has more than 30 years of work experience in forestry research and development in Ethiopia. He is currently working as Lead Researcher in the Ethiopian Forestry Development (EFD), former Ethiopian Environment and Forest Research Institute (EEFRI). He also served EEFRI as a founder Director General for three years (May 2015, to April 2018). He has conducted numerous forestry and natural resources-related research projects and published 17 Book chapters, 32 Journal articles, 18 Proceedings, and edited 7 Proceedings.
Dr. Steve Makungwa Dr. Steve Makungwa is a dynamic, forward-looking and multi-tasked senior lecturer, researcher and director with 18+ years of experience in a reputable university, nine years in a forestry research institute, four years in an ecology and development center, and three years in a knowledge center. He holds a PhD in Geosciences, MSc in Social Forestry and BSc in Agriculture and is the founder of the Centre for Applied Systems Analysis. Makungwa is the GLFx Lilongwe Chapter Coordinator and Knowledge Specialist responsible for managing the team and the overall activities of the Malawi chapter, including knowledge management within the community.
Dr. Hubert Hasenauer Dr. Hubert Hasenauer is Professor for Forest Ecosystem Management and Head of the Institute of Silviculture, University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences Vienna. His work deals with forest management, climate change impact studies and the carbon dynamics of forest ecosystems. He is also interested in Forest growth modelling, system theory and ecosystem research.
Dr. P.K. Joshi Prof. P K Joshi is Chairperson Special Centre for Disaster Research (SCDR) and Professor School of Environmental Sciences (SES), Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), New Delhi. His research addresses some of the pressing questions related to climate change while integrating dataset from variety of land use land cover, and glacier, precipitation and temperature regimes.
His areas of specialization include: advanced geospatial (RS, GIS, GPS/GNSS) analysis and modelling, Landscape and vegetation analysis and Climate change vis-à-vis ecological studies (incl. Natural Resource Management).
He is recipient of many awards, notably National Award for Geospatial Excellence (2020), P.R. Pisharoty Memorial Award by ISRS/ISRO. He is Fellow of many renowned societies like - National Academy of Agricultural Sciences (FNAAS), Indian Geophysical Union (FIGU) and Indian Academy of Environmental Sciences (FIAES), and is a member of GIS Academia Council of India.
Dr. Cora van Oosten Dr. Cora van Oosten is a Human Geographer with over 25 years of international experience in landscape approaches, governance, and participatory planning. Dr. Cora van Oosten is well known for her expertise on landscape governance. She has worked as adviser, project manager and team leader, usually on long term assignment in Africa, Latin America and Asia. In partnership with CIFOR-ICRAF Cora coordinates the learning programme of the Global Landscapes Forum which is the world's largest network on landscape approaches. Cora and her team are working to enhance landscape capabilities worldwide, with the aim to manage, govern and restore landscapes in an economically viable and socially acceptable manner.
Mr. Swayam Mallick Mr Swayam Mallick is currently working as Deputy Project Director of Odisha Forestry Sector Development Project Phase II. He is a recipient of many prestigious awards and fellowships- Full Bright Fellowship and UNEP Asia environmental enforcement Award to name a few.
His areas of interest are Climate change and carbon sequestration, Forest Economics and Law enforcement in the field of forest and wildlife.
Mr. A.K. Isuru Jayantha Mr. A.K. Isuru Jayantha is working as an Assistant Conservator of Forests for the Department of Forest Conservation of Sri Lanka since last 12 years. He holds a Masters degree in Environmental Management from Portland State University, Oregon, USA and Masters in Organizational Management, University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka. He has served as a member of technical evaluation committees of Environmental Impact Assessments of many national development projects. His work is focussed on Ecosystem Service quantification, modeling and valuation.
Dr. Shalini Dhyani Dr. Shalini Dhyani is Senior Scientist at CSIR-National Environment Engineering Research Institute, India. She is Asia Vice Chair and Steering Committee member in the Commission on Ecosystems Management of IUCN. Shalini works on interlinkages between socio-ecological systems including indigenous and local knowledge systems for ecosystem health assessments, restoration of degraded landscapes, disaster risk reduction, and climate change adaptation using Nature-based Solutions (NbS), and sustainability science approaches. Shalini is experienced in sectoral integration for developing resilient landscapes and improving corporate community partnerships for climate-sensitive landscape restoration from multidisciplinary efforts. She brings experience in science-policy integration as the lead author in the recently release IPBES global thematic assessment on the Sustainable Use of wild species and Asia-Pacific regional assessment of biodiversity and ecosystem services. She has many high-impact peer-reviewed national, and international research papers, edited books, and popular articles to her credit.
Dr. Jeyaram Soundrapandi Dr. Soundrapandi holds an M.Phil and a Ph.D in Botany with specialization in Plant Taxonomy from the University of Madras.
Since 2012, he is at the National Biodiversity Authority (NBA), Chennai in various capacities. As a Project Officer under the GoI-UNDP Biodiversity Finance Initiative, he assisted NBA/MoEFCC in the preparation of India’s Biodiversity Finance Plan (BFP, 2019) to implement India’s National Biodiversity Action Plan (NBAP) and the associated National Biodiversity Targets (NBTs).
Between 2018-2020 he served as a Project Manager, ASEAN-India Cooperation Project under the ASEAN-India Green Fund (AIGF) and worked closely with the ASEAN Centre for Biodiversity, Manila, The Philippines. He is currently assisting the NBA/MoEFCC in implementing the BIOFIN Extended Phase II in India.
Ms. Aditi Mishra Aditi Mishra is a PhD Research Scholar at G.B. Pant National Institute of Himalayan Environment, Almora. She has completed her Master’s in Environment Management from Forest Research Institute, Dehradun. Her current research involves assessing the impacts of forest fire on vegetation in the selected study area of Uttarakhand Himalayas. Aditi is also serving as India Lead at ‘Restor’ and contributing towards building a global restoration movement. She has served as a board member of the International Forestry Students’ Association and represented as youth delegate in the UNFCCC COP-26, COP-27 and XVth World Forestry Congress. Having worked with the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration secretariat at UNEP, she supported the launch of the Decade on the World Environment Day, 2021.