Dr. Sarala Khaling

Sarala Khaling

Head of Resilient Economies and Landscapes

Dr. Sarala Khaling, originally from Darjeeling, India, is an ecologist with a Ph.D. in Ecology and Post-doc in forest commons, collective action and institutions. Her work has focused on biodiversity, ecosystem services, human-wildlife interactions, sustainable food systems and forest governance. She has held leadership roles at WWF Nepal, where she led programme development, research, and monitoring initiatives. She also served as Regional Coordinator for the Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund at WWF, collaborating with over 200 national NGOs and community-based organizations in Bhutan, India, and Nepal. More recently, she was the Regional Director for the Eastern Himalaya-Northeast India office at Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment, India managing research, livelihoods, ecosystem restoration programmes and leading capacity-building efforts, and policy engagement in the Indian Himalaya. At ICIMOD she heads the Resilient Economies and Landscapes Strategic Group/Portfolio which focuses on restoring biodiversity and regenerating ecosystems, ensuring that the mountain people who depend on nature are at the centre of these efforts.