I am currently working as the Advisor (Natural Resources Management and Climate Change) of the Integrated Development Society, Nepal (IDS-Nepal); www.idsnepal.org. I am associated with two other NGOs: www.sias-southasia.org; and www.inbar.org. I serve as the South Asia Chair of the IUCN Commission on Ecosystem Management (CEM). I am one of the two Co-chairs for the Regional Assessment of Biodiversity and Eco-system Services in Asia Pacific Region commissioned by the Intergovernmental Platform for Biodiversity and Eco-system Services (IPBES). During 2005-12, I worked as the Deputy Director General (DDG) - Programmes and Knowledge management at the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD), Kathmandu (www.icimod.org). My current research interests are in: Natural Resources Management, Climate Change and Sustainable Development related topics. I have more than 35 years of professional experience working in different positions and capacities in government, INGOs, NGOs and academia. I hold Ph.D. in Forestry from Michigan State University and Masters in Range Science from Colorado State University, USA. My more than to 35 years of professional work include teaching, academic administration, research grant management, and intergovernmental, integrated, regional and transboundary management of action research and policy outreach mainly in South Asia and Hindu Kush Himalaya (HKH) regions. I worked as the Senior Programme Officer in IDRC, Canada’s Delhi office (1995 to 2005) where I was involved in work on Bamboo and Rattan and Medicinal plants in South and Southeast Asia. I was actively involved in the team that was involved in creating the International Network for Bamboo and Rattan (INBAR); I was the Regional Coordinator of the Medicinal and Aromatic Plants Programme in Asia (MAPPA) while working in the IDRC, Canada’s regional office in Delhi. I served as the Campus Chief and Asst. Dean of the Institute of Forestry, Nepal from 1984 to 1995. During the 2007-12, I actively participated in the global discourses on Climate Change and Sustainable Mountain Development (SMD) issues building the knowledge base and sharing the perspectives of the Hindu Kush Himalaya/Asia Pacific region. I headed the team at ICIMOD that carried out the assessment of the “Achievements, challenges and opportunities for Sustainable Mountain Development between 1992 and 2012 and Beyond” and organized a number of events leading up to the Rio+20 conferences in Brazil in 2012 that led to specific outcomes statements on Mountains in the Rio+20 outcome document – THE FUTURE WE WANT. I also conceived and organized Mountain Day at COP17 and COP18 at Durban and Doha UNFCCC COPs. I also served as the chair of the global Mountain Partnership Consortium during 2011-12. I have been a pioneer in the field of NTFP and medicinal plants research, development and promoting them by researching, advocating and working on national and regional supply/value chain development and organic production to sustainably use biodiversity resources especially high value products and services. I have more than 90 professional publications and book chapters etc. I have just completed the task of working as a Coordinating Lead Author (CLA) of the Chapter on Urban Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services for the 2nd Urban Climate Change Assessment commissioned by the UCCRN based at the Earth Institute, Columbia University USA. http://uccrn.org/resources/events/arc3-2