National Advisors and Consultants
Mr. Bivash Ranjan
(Retired IFS)
National Adviser, Conservation Planning
Mr. Bivash Ranjan, retired as the Additional Director General of Forest and Co-chair and Thematic lead under Environment and Climate Sustainability Working Group of G 20, has worked as an Indian Forest Service (IFS) official and managed multiple desks Forests & Wildlife management, Land restoration, Species conservation, the National Mission for Green India, Desertification Cell. He also chaired the Standing Committee of Global Land Initiative (GLI), established under UNCCD. He owns varied international exposure in policy initiatives for natural resource management.
He is a highly experienced Indian bureaucrat with 35 years of experience in Forestry, Wildlife Conservation, Landscape Approaches for Sustainable Development, Community-based Natural Resources, Biodiversity Conservation and Enrichment, Landscape Ecology, and Climate Change.
He is a member of the Indian Forest Services who has served in Uttar Pradesh and the Government of India in various capacities and successfully demonstrated expertise in strategic planning, high-level negotiation, project management, grant management, policy research, evaluation, stakeholder engagement, and cross-functional team leaderships.
Mr. Anil Kumar Bhardwaj
(Retired IFS)
National Adviser, Human Dimensions in Conservation
Dr. Anil Kumar Bhardwaj is from 1985 batch of Indian Forest Service, Kerala Cadre. He has a professional and Academic experience of 38 years in the field of Wildlife Conservation and Forestry. He has managed a number of Protected Areas (PAs) in southern Western Ghats of Kerala. During his tenure as a Director of Periyar Tiger Reserve, he initiated participatory management approaches through ecodevelopment programme which has transformed this tiger reserve as one of the model areas for participatory PA management in the country. Concept of Foundations initiated in Periyar during his period, has now been extended at to all the tiger reserves in India. He retired as Principal Chief Conservator of Forests, Chief Wildlife Warden and Head of Forest Force of Kerala in 2018.
He has worked in Wildlife Institute of India (WII) for about 15 years. During this period, he has headed two important departments of the institute and handles a number of national and international projects. Dr. Bhardwaj has extensively worked in the area of ecodevelopment and designed competence-based training programmes for participatory biodiversity conservation. He has also been involved in designing of guidelines for ecodevelopment planning and curricula for landscape conservation programmes. After his retirement, he has been engaged as a Senior Professional Fellow in WII. Currently he is associated with the institute as Community Mobilization Expert for river conservation programmes.
His major areas of interest are park-people interface, community livelihoods and biodiversity conservation, ecotourism and management planning for protected areas & large landscapes. He is a member of World Commission on Protected Areas, IUCN Sustainable use Group; IUCN Environmental, Economic and Social Policy Group; Indian Regional Association for Landscape Ecology; Biodiversity Conservation Society of Kerala and Advisor & Board Member of Ambika Prasad Research Foundation.
Dr. Archana Bahuguna
(Founder & Director, Himalayan Centre for Art, Culture and Science)
National Adviser, Forensic Sciences in Conservation
Dr. Archana Bahuguna is a retired Additional Director of the Zoological Survey of India (ZSI), where she served until October 2025. She is widely recognized as India’s first Wildlife Forensic Scientist, with specialized expertise in trichotaxonomy, molecular biology, and herpetology. As a Research Associate at the Wildlife Institute of India under an Indo–US Fish and Wildlife Service project, she developed a comprehensive manual on hair identification of threatened mammalian species — a reference still used by the Wildlife Institute of India, ZSI, and the Kerala State Forensic Laboratory, among other institutions.
After joining ZSI in 2004, Dr. Bahuguna established the division’s first molecular laboratory and strengthened molecular research facilities at ZSI’s Northern and High Altitude Regional Centres, generating 738 gene sequences of threatened faunal species across Asia. She has reported numerous new distribution records of reptiles and amphibians, including freshwater turtles, and has described two new amphibian species. She also served as the UNDP-sponsored Nodal Officer for the Uttarakhand State Forest Department during preparation of the state’s first Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan.
Her body of work includes 111 research papers and 15 authored books. She is currently the Founder and Director of the Himalayan Centre for Art, Culture and Science (HCACS), established in March 2024 to advance interdisciplinary research and preserve the cultural heritage and biodiversity of the Himalayan region. Beyond science, Dr. Bahuguna is an accomplished science communicator in Hindi and English, a creative writer of Hindi novels, short stories, and poetry, and a painter.
Dr. S. M. Sulaiman Quli
National Adviser, Forest and Wildlife Conservation
Dr S, M, Sulaiman Quli with his academic credentials of M. Sc. (Zoology: Ecology) Ph. D. In Science (Zoology: Avian Hematology) and Two Years Diploma in Forestry (1986-1988) from SFS College Dehra Dun, MoEF, Govt. of India, which is declared as equivalent to M.Sc. (Forestry) by Ministry of Environment & Forests, Govt. of India, has worked in various fields of Forestry, Wildlife and allied subjects.
Before retirement from Faculty of Forestry of Birsa Agricultural University on 31st January 2025, he served in various cadres- Asstt. Professor-cum-Jr Scientist to University Professor- cum- Chief Scientist, in the field of Forestry & Wildlife, for more than four decades.
He has guided several students for their M. Sc. And Ph. D. researches, in the field of Agroforestry, Wildlife and Forest based Livelihoods etc. He has more than sixty research publications to his credit and served as an expert with International Organizations like CIFOR and IFAD, besides several State Governments and NGOs. In recognition of his distinguished Research works, The Indian Forester has awarded him the prestigious “BRANDIS Prize” twice during 2002 and 2011.
Worked as Referee to Indian Forester and Journal of Natural Resources Conservation of Horizon Research Corporation of USA