Dr Krishna K. Shrestha is Senior Lecturer in Development Studies at School of Social Sciences at the University of New South Wales (UNSW), Australia. He holds a PhD in Geography and a Graduate Certificate in Educational Studies (Higher Education) from the University of Sydney Australia, a Master of Environmental Engineering Management (MEEM) from University of Technology, Sydney and a B.Sc. in Forestry (Distinction) from Tribhuvan University Nepal. He has also completed the first year course-work towards an MA in Anthropology from Tribhuvan University Nepal.
Krishna is an environmental geographer and policy analyst. His core interest is in the interplay between equity and collective action in environmental governance and climate change adaptation. He uses grounded analysis of socio-ecological dynamics through a multi-scale perspective where the role of unequal power relations in constituting a politicized environment is a central theme. His research gives particular attention to the ways in which problems of environment and justice are linked to systems of social hierarchy and political and economic control which affect poor and minority groups. He uses a ‘critical realist’ and ‘pragmatic approach’ to environment and development problems in which rigorous explanation is generally balanced with carefully considered policy alternatives. Most of his work has been based on empirical social science research, particularly in Nepal and Australia. His research has been recognised by leading international journals. He has also authored a number of book chapters by invitation. His research paper on ‘Procedural equity…’ was selected as one of the few hundred papers (from over 10,000 submissions) for a presentation in the World forestry Congress in Argentina in 2009. He has received recognition for his research and teaching in the form of a number of highly competitive grants, and several awards and fellowships including the prestigious Maxwell Ralph Jacobs Award by the Institute of Foresters Australia in 2008
