49th biannual research and training workshop

About the workshop

The South Asian Network for Development and Environmental Economics (SANDEE), a research capacity and academic leadership development programme at the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD), is holding its 49th biannual research and training workshop in Sri Lanka as a part of its research capacity and academic leadership development activity. SANDEE grantees and faculty advisors attend the workshop, where they reviewing the progress of the research under ongoing SANDEE grants and developing an action plan for each project for the next six months. Personalised mentoring is the key component of the workshop, where researchers have the opportunity to interact with mentors and peers to improve the quality of their research, develop their research capacity, and learn from other projects discussed at the workshop. In addition, shortlisted researchers from the Summer 2025 call for concept notes, whose proposals have gone through peer review in the past several months, present and defend their proposals.

One of the key highlights of the workshop is the SANDEE- ICIMOD Karl-Göran Mäler Memorial Lecture, which will be held on 01 July 2025. This lecture is a part of a series held in memory of late professor Karl-Göran Mäler, who was one of the founders of SANDEE. The keynote speaker will be Erin Sills, PhD, Professor and Director of International Programs, Department of Forestry and Environmental Resources, North Carolina State University, North Carolina, United States. The lecture will be in hybrid mode. In-person participation is by invitation only. To attend online, please register in advance.

SANDEE-ICIMOD Karl-Göran Mäler Memorial Lecture (Summer 2025)

01 July 2025 | 09:00–10:35 (Sri Lanka Standard Time) (UTC+5:30)

Hybrid (Sri Lanka and Zoom)

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Performance-based conservation finance: lessons from reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation

Speaker
Erin Sills, PhD

Erin O Sills is the Edwin F Conger Professor and Head of the Department of Forestry and Environmental Resources at North Carolina State University, North Carolina, United States. She was a research associate at the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR), Environment for Development (EfD), and Institute of Man and Environment of the Amazon (Imazon). Her research is about the interface of environment and development economics, including design and evaluation of climate change mitigation strategies such as reducing emissions from deforestation and degradation, and the conservation of forest carbon stocks.

Abstract

Both government policy and voluntary initiatives for biodiversity conservation and climate change mitigation have incorporated performance-based mechanisms. It is expected that these mechanisms will be more effective than traditional conservation approaches, experience with Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation+ (REDD+) indicates that the success depends on careful design to ensure incentives for various stakeholders and lead to net conservation gains. This lecture will focus on and highlight examples of successful mechanism designs.

Moderator
Pranab Mukhopadhyay, PhD

Pranab Mukhopadhyay is the Professor of Economics and Vice-Dean (Research) at the Goa Business School, Goa University, India. He is a fellow and Technical Committee Member of SANDEE. He is also the past (2016 – 18) President of the Indian Society for Ecological Economics (INSEE). Earlier, he worked as an environmental economist for the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), Nepal. He is the current editor of Ecology, Economy, and Society – the INSEE Journal. His research interests include managing commons, nature and society, sustainable development, ecosystem services, and economic growth. Prof. Mukhopadhyay studied economics at Presidency College, Calcutta and Jawaharlal Nehru University, India.