Dr. Keshav Raj Kanel
keshav@forestaction.wlink.com.np

He has over thirty years of experience in the fields of resource planning and policy analysis; community forestry, forest products marketing; inter-linkages between forest management and livelihoods, agro-forestry; renewable natural resource management; common property management system and institutions etc. He has conducted research in institutional management and analysis, social cost/benefit analysis, appraisal and preparation of projects in forestry and watershed management; valuation and sustainability issues in forest management, and evaluation methods in forestry and watershed projects. Relevant earlier experiences include important forestry projects such as Master Plan for Forestry Sector Project, Terai Community Forestry Project, etc. He worked as the Chief Coordinator of Foreign Aid under the Ministry of Forests and Soil Conservation (Government of Nepal), and as a consultant for the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), International Fund for Agriculture Development (IFAD), World Bank, Finnish International Development Agency (FINNIDA), The World Conservation Union (IUCN), Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), Overseas Development Institute (ODI), RECOFTC, and other international consulting firms. He has extensive networking relationship with international research and policy community, including International Forest Resources and Institutions (IFRI), South Asia Network for Development and Environmental Economists (SANDEE), RECOFTC, Rights and Resources Group, and CIFOR. More recently, he worked as the Chief, and Deputy Director General, Community Forestry Division, Department of Forests, and then as the Director General of the Department of Forests, Kathmandu, Nepal. Currently, he is an acting secretary of the Government of Nepal.

His current research and professional interests include: ecosystem services and livelihoods, adaptive management, policy, climate change and REDD (mainly policy and economic dimensions).