I protect the pulse of the planet through being part of SANDEE’s noble mission. As a team, we’ve been able to generate literature on the region by researchers from the region on a wide variety of local and regional environmental issues including the impact of human activities on the local and regional environment, and we’ve been able to assess the impact of different programmes and policies to address these issues. Trained researchers from the region have been involved in understanding these issues better and generating robust literature for providing the required evidence base for making appropriate policies, advising local and national governments, and preparing future leaders who are sensitive to the people and the planet.

At ICIMOD, I have been collaborating with a diverse group of people from the region and beyond, which provides opportunities for learning and understanding different issues and approaches while doing research. ICIMOD is a flexible platform that provides a conducive environment for collaboration and learning for creating knowledge and dissemination.

In addition to understanding environmental issues, I’m passionate about doing research and sharing knowledge, and I also enjoy the natural environment.

I’ve been involved in academics for a long time, as an Associate Professor of Economics at Tribhuvan University, Assistant Professor at the University of New Mexico, Visiting Professor at Kathmandu University, and Adjunct Professor at the Agriculture and Forestry University, Nepal. I also held a Senior Economist position at the New Mexico Department of Finance and Administration, USA; and an Economist position both at the Nepal Foundation for Advanced Studies and the Agricultural Projects Service Center, which is a research organization of the Government of Nepal.

I am an applied economist by training with research interests in the intersection of development and environmental issues including non-market valuation, climate change economics, energy transition, program evaluation and social issues such as social networks, family wellbeing, inequality and conflict. My research outcomes have been published in several peer reviewed journals and I have been honored with gold medals in both my Bachelor’s degree and Master’s degree programmes at Tribhuvan University, awarded the Birendra-Aishworya merit-based scholarship and the J. Raymond Stuart Award in Economics and was a Fulbright Scholar at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (USA) where I obtained an MS degree in Economics. I received a PhD degree (with distinction) from the University of New Mexico, USA, in environmental/development economics and applied econometrics.