Ajanta DEY

Ms. Ajanta Dey, is a conservation practitioner and has been working on ecological restoration of landscapes with an ecosystem-based approach for over two decades. She is the Joint Secretary & Programme Director of Nature Environment & Wildlife Society (NEWS). She is a member of the Commission on Ecosystems Management (CEM) – International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and also the Regional Co-ordinator of Living Lakes and Wetlands-South Asia. She is also the Member of West Bengal State Coastal Zone Management Authority.  
She works towards sustainable models of conservation of ecosystems esp conserving the fresh water resources with nature-based solutions, identifying species’ niche with the critical habitat in a multi-stakeholder milieu integrating local communities as stewardships for sustainability.
She has worked on coastal restoration programme along with freshwater resource management and also water shed management including spring rejuvenation in the Himalayan hills. She believes in partnership and building synergies at all levels to achieve the sustainable development goals. She has many scientific papers to her credit.
She is presently implementing coastal resilience programmes esp through mangrove restoration and renaturation in Sundarban, West Bengal, Tamilnadu and Puducherry. She has also worked in Bhitarakanika- Odisha with IUCN-MFF projects between 2016-2018 and in Dolvi-Maharashtra . And has worked and is still working in 4 Ramsar sites.
Due to her rich experience and commitment towards the cause, she was invited as a lead discussant in the 2022 United Nations high-level political forum on sustainable development (HLPF), to speak on ‘Life on land’.