Uttam Babu Shrestha, an environment scholar and researcher, has been granted the National Geographic Explorer Award.

Shrestha has been awarded to research the impact of Covid-19 on Nepal’s conservation sector. The research grant is worth around $50,000.

“The National Geographic Explorer Award is given to explorers and researchers engaged in different fields,” Shrestha told the Post in a brief interview. “The competition was tough as there were over 1,200 candidates out of which 50 were selected in the first round. In the second round, 10 people got selected. These 10 people get up to $50,000 for their project.”

This is, however, not the first time Shrestha has bagged the award.

Earlier in 2019 also he had received the National Geographic Society’s Explorer Grant. In 2012, Shrestha had received National Geographic Society’s Conservation Trust Grant.

Shrestha’s research interests are climate change and its impact on ecosystems and species, biodiversity conservation, land-use challenge and human use of natural resources.

Shrestha, who holds a PhD in environmental science from the University of Massachusetts Boston, USA, is the founder director of Global Institute for Interdisciplinary Studies, a Kathmandu-based research institution that conducts and promotes interdisciplinary research.

He is a fortnightly columnist for Kantipur, the Post’s sister paper.