Ms. Bhattarai has an interdisciplinary background covering natural resources management and development studies. Her research explores human-environmental interface with a focus on social and economic empowerment of the poor women and men dependent on natural resources for livelihoods. She has extensively worked in Nepal and to some extent in India on issues related to community forestry, community-based natural resource management, community-based enterprises and value chain development, and agroforestry.
Ms. Bhattarai has over 15 years of working experience in research, and development in the areas of community forestry, climate change, biodiversity management, value chain development, ecosystem services, agroforestry, forest, and food security, and renewable energy with a special focus on gender, poverty and social inclusion. She worked as a Gender Specialist at International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) during 2008-2010. She conducted studies on the gender dimension of resource management and explored policy solutions. She also worked as the Theme Leader on ‘gender and social inclusion at ForestAction Nepal where she carried out several research studies related to gender and community forestry particularly on poverty and women’s empowerment. She also has experience of working with aid programs such as the UK Community Forestry in Nepal.
Ms Bhattarai holds Masters Degree in Tropical and International Forestry from the University of Goettingen, Germany. She has co- authored several book chapters, journal articles, policy briefs, and conference papers in the above mentioned themes. As a part of her work she has also served as team member in several donor project assessment and evaluation.
