Dr Sonam Choden has been involved with the Ramsar Convention since 2008; spearheaded Bhutan’s accession to the Ramsar Convention, served as the National Focal Point, built the Water and Wetlands program in Bhutan and represented Asia as their Standing Committee Chair. She is the Water and Wetlands Specialist for the Royal Government of Bhutan and advises government, non- governmental and the private sector in water and wetlands management in the country and towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals.
She has almost two decades of hands-on experiences and continues to work on interdisciplinary projects with multidisciplinary partners dealing with mitigation and adaptation to climate change through the water, energy and food security nexus. Over the years, she has been influential in policy changes and managing the natural resources in Bhutan and Asia. Furthermore, she has assessed watersheds, carried out water resources inventories, fielded climate vulnerability assessments, developed wetland guidelines, researched on drying springs in the Himalayas and trained stakeholders in wetland science and management. She is passionate about ecosystem-based conservation and continues to advocate for systems thinking in sustainable landscape management.