After serving for 33 years at the prestigious Wildlife Institute of India (WII), a globally acclaimed scientific institution of the Ministry of Environment, Forest & Climate Change, Govt. of India including as the Dean (2005–2014) and subsequently as the Director (upto August 31st 2019) Dr. Vinod B. Mathur worked as the Chairperson of the National Biodiversity Authority (NBA) of India from September 1st 2019 to 31st August, 2022. The NBA is the apex statutory body of the Government of India for providing advisory and regulatory services on all matters relating to biodiversity conservation, management and Access and Benefit Sharing (ABS) of biological resources. He has worked in the Apex Scale No. 17 (equivalent to the Secretary to the Government of India) for over 4 years (2018-2022). Dr. Mathur joined the Indian Forest Service (IFS) and topped the 1983-85 IFS Professional Course at the Indira Gandhi National Forest Academy (IGNFA), Dehradun and also the 45th Foundational Course at Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration (LBSNAA), Mussoorie in 1985. He obtained his doctorate degree in wildlife ecology from the University of Oxford, United Kingdom in 1991.
He has been the Regional Vice-Chair of the IUCN-World Commission on Protected Areas (WCPA-South Asia) (2011-2021) and Member of the International Association of Impact Assessment (IAIA) since 1999.He has now spent nearly four decades in actively contributing to policy, programmes and projects related to forest, wildlife and biodiversity conservation. He has extensive experience as an environmental professional and his special interest include natural resource management, environmental & strategic impact assessment and participatory biodiversity governance. He was instrumental in developing and successfully implementing a Govt. of India sponsored “Endangered Species Recovery Programme” covering 4 species viz., Great Indian Bustard, Dugong, Gangetic Dolphin and Manipur Deer. He has substantially contributed to the Management Effectiveness Evaluation (MEE) process for National Parks and Tiger Reserves in India. He has been actively contributing to research-policy interface issues and has been the Regional Vice-Chair (Asia-Pacific Region) of United Nations Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (UN-IPBES) Multi-disciplinary Expert Panel (MEP) (2014-2018). He is currently the UN-IPBES Bureau Member (2019-2023) and has been the UN-CBD Bureau Member (2019-2022) for the Asia-Pacific Region. In the 9th Plenary Meeting of IPBES he was elected as the Vice-Chair of the IPBES Bureau He has also been the Chair of the UN-CBD Informal Advisory Group for developing synergies between seven biodiversity-related Conventions. He has been part of the official Indian delegation for CBD, UNESCO World Heritage Committee, CMS and CITES Meetings since 2006 and has in-depth knowledge about the working of these Conventions. He has extensive experience of planning, managing, monitoring and evaluation of GEF projects both nationally and internationally.
He possesses an outstanding scholastic record coupled with strong leadership skills and networking capabilities. He provided valuable technical inputs in the preparation of India’s National Biodiversity Action Plan (NBAP) and the formulation of India’s National Biodiversity Targets. He has provided technical assistance in the preparation/review of State Biodiversity Strategy & Action Plan (SBSAP) for 8 States in India viz Assam. Himachal Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Meghalaya, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh and Sikkim He was designated as the Mission Leader for formulating the Prime Ministers’ Science, Technology, Innovation, Advisory Council (PM-STIAC) sponsored National Mission on Biodiversity and Human Well-being. He has been actively engaged in promoting biodiversity mainstreaming and ecological connectivity; preparing biodiversity finance and resource mobilization plans; promoting green infrastructure development and developing framework for OECMs. He has actively contributed in the development of Biodiversity Finance Plan under UNDP-BIOFIN Project, in promoting participatory biodiversity resource governance including establishment of Biodiversity Management Committees, preparation of e-Peoples’ Biodiversity Registers (e-PBRs), Access and Benefit Sharing (ABS) process. He has actively contributed to UN Post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF) negotiations and has been the Co-Lead for Contact Group on GBF Goals. He has actively contributed to the development of South Asian perspective on the GBF. He is currently the Convenor of the International Standard Organization (ISO), Switzerland Biodiversity Advisory Group ISO/TC/331 WG-3 (2021-2026).. He is also an Affiliate Faculty at the Warner College of Natural Resources (WCNR), Colorado State University, USA and also works as International Biodiversity Consultant for the Asian Development Bank (ADB) on Green Infrastructure Developments. He is currently the Expert Member of the Department of Health Research, Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, Government of India, Project Review Committee (PRC) under the Program for Strengthening R&D towards integrated disease control and pandemic preparedness for the National One Health Mission (NOHM).