Dr. Ghana Shyam Gurung is the Country Representative of WWF Nepal, and Snow Leopard
Champion of the WWF network. Dr. Gurung previously worked as Senior Conservation Program
Director at WWF Nepal and has over 30 years of experience in participatory biodiversity
conservation. His multifaceted conservation journey – working his way up from humble
beginnings in setting up protected areas, to managing multi-disciplinary projects in the
Conservation Areas, and later supporting the establishment of trans-boundary conservation
landscapes – has established him as a known and respected figure in the local and international
conservation fraternity.
Under his leadership in WWF Nepal’s conservation programs, Nepal has witnessed significant
growth in key wildlife species, 365 days of zero poaching of the rhino on six occasions,
understanding of snow leopards and the Tx2 – almost tripling of wild tigers. All of this, while
instigating community-based institutions as local stewards of nature.
He has received “Sewa Padak” on the Silver Jubilee of Panchayat System from then Royal
Government of Nepal and “Bidhya Bhushan Ka” award from the first president of Nepal – Mr.
Ram Baran Yadav. Furthermore, he has conferred with the conservationist medal in 2021 by the
present President of Nepal – Honorable Bidya Devi Bhandari. Also, received Conservation
Partnership medal in 2022 from Nepal Chief of Army.
Believing strongly in the role of the next generation to carry forward Nepal’s conservation
legacy, Dr. Gurung is a motivational speaker and a mentor to many. He has helped establish
over 35 scholarships in the Kanchenjunga Conservation Area for disadvantaged girls managed
by local women groups, as well as played critical role in establishing five annual Memorial
Scholarships through WWF Nepal to pursue higher education in conservation in memory of the
conservation heroes that lost their lives in the tragic 2006 helicopter crash.
Leveraging over three decades of experience in conservation, he speaks regularly at events,
forums, and conferences – local and global. He has been involved in an advisory capacity at
various institutions, chaired national working groups on human-tiger conflict, and more. He
holds a PhD in Natural Science from the University of Zurich, Switzerland.