Dr. Pema Wangda

Dr. Pema Wangda serves as the Member Secretary to the Bhutan for Life Board of Trustees and is the Executive Director of the Bhutan for Life Fund Secretariat (BFL-FS). He brings extensive experience in natural resource management, watershed conservation, and climate policy implementation, with a strong foundation in research and academic engagement.

Before joining Bhutan for Life, Dr. Wangda served as the Chief Forestry Officer at the Watershed Management Division, Department of Forest and Park Services (DoFPS), where he also led the REDD+ Readiness Secretariat from 2013 to 2018, advancing Bhutan’s readiness for results-based climate finance.

Dr. Wangda was awarded the prestigious JSPS International Fellowship for Research in Japan in 2016. He earned both his Doctoral (Ph.D.) and Master’s (M.Sc.) Degrees in Natural Environmental Studies from the University of Tokyo, Japan (2001–2006).

An accomplished researcher, he has published several papers in international, regional, and national peer-reviewed journals. He also contributed to academia as an Adjunct Lecturer at the College of Natural Resources, Royal University of Bhutan, from 2012 to 2014.