Western PhD candidate presents new research at 2022 United Nations Climate Change Conference, helping quantify forest carbon stocks in Nepal
Shiva Khanal, a PhD candidate from Western Sydney University’s Hawkesbury Institute for the Environment, has recently presented the findings of his PhD research at the 27th United Nations Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP27) held in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt.
Attending COP27 as a member of the Nepalese Government delegation to present the findings of his PhD thesis ‘Quantification of Nepal’s forest carbon stocks’, Mr Khanal’s research is making a global impact by helping to shape international climate change policies.
“I have been working in the forest research department of the Ministry of Forest and Environment in Nepal for several years and a recent transfer to the Climate Change Management Division of the Ministry of Forest and Environment, Nepal, enabled me to participate as a delegation for COP27 where I led a section focusing on measuring greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions,” said Mr Khanal.
“At COP27 I had the opportunity to showcase part of the work that I had done during my PhD, which assessed forest carbon storage in the Central Himalayas, which is a region with great variation in climate and vegetation over very short distances, providing insights into the requirements for broader climate change mitigation initiatives.”
Mr Khanal’s thesis, which focused on the modelling of forest carbon in Nepal, has provided nation-wide high-resolution estimates of current forest carbon stocks.
“In addition to being a fascinating study region for the natural sciences, not much is known about the forests of the region and in particular their capacity to store carbon. My thesis quantified the total amount of forest carbon in the Central Himalayas and how it is distributed across Nepal’s rugged landscapes in relation to environmental conditions,” he explained.
“The improvements in the modelling of forest carbon developed in my thesis have important implications for countries like Nepal in providing the tools to comply with the forest carbon monitoring and reporting requirements under the United Nations’ Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD+) Program.”
PhD program supervisor, Professor Matthias Boer from the University’s Hawkesbury Institute for the Environment said Mr Khanal’s modelling and research is an example of the world class climate, environment, and sustainability research that Western is globally renowned for.
“The outcomes of Shiva’s PhD research are of tremendous significance for the people of Nepal and developing countries globally. Shiva has used cutting-edge spatial modelling techniques to quantify Nepal’s forest carbon stocks at unprecedented levels of accuracy,” said Professor Boer.
“This will help Nepal comply with forest monitoring requirements under the United Nations Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD+) Program and thereby generate economic benefits from forest conservation.
“With Shiva’s research making an impressive global impact so early in his career, this is a remarkable outcome for a PhD project, and I know he will continue on his career in global forest conservation and climate change mitigation with the international research community, NGOs and governments,” he said.
Western Sydney University has recently been named number one in the world for its social, ecological and economic impact in the latest Times Higher Education (THE) University Impact Rankings 2022.
ENDS
1 December 2022
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