Dr. Sushil Saigal

Sushil Saigal is a conservation and sustainable development leader with over 34 years of experience spanning natural resource management, biodiversity, climate change and rural livelihoods. A Gates Cambridge and ORS Scholar, he holds a PhD and MPhil from the University of Cambridge, an MSc with Distinction from the University of Oxford, a Certificate in Sustainable Environmental Management from the University of California, Berkeley, and a Post Graduate Diploma in Forestry Management from the Indian Institute of Forest Management, Bhopal.

Over the course of his career, Sushil has worked at the intersection of conservation science, policy and community development, helping shape some of India's most influential natural resource management initiatives. He played an important role in the growth of Joint Forest Management, one of the world's largest participatory forestry programmes, and helped launch one of India's first Payments for Ecosystem Services initiatives. He served as the Coordinator of the Stakeholders’ Forum established by the Ministry of Environment and Forests, Government of India. He has also served on numerous national and state-level expert groups convened by NITI Aayog, Ministry of Panchayati Raj, Governments of Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, Indian Institute of Forest Management, and other leading institutions. He was a member of the group that prepared The FSC Forest Stewardship Standard for India.