Dr Sidharth Kaul is the President of Wetlands International South Asia.
He is the former Advisor (Wetlands) to the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Government of India.
Dr Kaul has an experience of more than 42 years in conservation and sustainable development of wetlands in India and abroad. He coordinated the National Wetland Conservation for over three decades, playing a key role in fulfilling Government of India’s obligations to several international conventions including Ramsar Convention, and being associated with several international conservation organizations.
Dr Kaul’s work experience ranges from formulation of management plans for wetlands and biosphere reserves, ecotourism development, communication, education and public awareness (CEPA), monitoring and evaluation and capacity building. He has been appointed on several committees constituted by Government of India for conservation and management of wetlands. Mainstreaming the concerns of local communities and their traditional knowledge into wetland management action plans has been one of his key work areas. He has worked on several assignments for the national and state governments as well as initiatives of international development agencies including World Bank, Asian Development Bank, Department for International Development and others.
A limnologist by training, Dr Kaul has been actively promoting research and development in the field of conservation and management of wetlands and has published extensively in national and international journals. He has published over 50 research papers in leading international and national journals, and over 100 technical reports on conservation and management of wetlands, biosphere reserves, ecotourism development, high altitude wetlands, community participation in wetland conservation, communication, education and public awareness.