Karimon Nesha at the Golden Gate bridge in San Francisco.

Before attending the CSF International Economic Tools for Conservation course in 2015 at Stanford University, Karimon Nesha had never left Bangladesh. Dedicated support from a professor at the university she attended made it possible for her to come to the course and start an educational journey that has since taken her around the world. Karimon is a bright, thoughtful woman full of enthusiasm for the world and an unparalleled sweetness of personality. It was my great pleasure to become friends with her during our time together in California, and I continue to be impressed by her dedication to finding solutions to environmental challenges in Bangladesh, and her own personal growth. Last month, Karimon and I caught up over email and I'd like to share her latest update with you.

What are you up to right now?

Currently, I work as Program Officer at Center for Natural Resource Studies (CNRS) in Dhaka, Bangladesh. However, I am about to start an 18-month long MSc Course on GIS and Earth Observation for Natural Resource Management at University of Twente in the Netherlands.

What are your daily work or school activities?

As a program officer, I supervise natural resource management and climate change projects at the field level. I also take part in designing project proposals and am the point person for capacity building for my organization.

Karimon negotiating during a market simulation game at the CSF course.

What are your current or upcoming projects?

Right now, I am designing a project proposal for CNRS targeting USAID’s “Strengthening Agricultural Sector Capacity and Microenterprise Productivity under Nobo Jatra/ DFAP Program.” The project has been awarded to Winrock International (WI), USA who is seeking a local implementing partner; CNRS is one of the contenders. The project addresses the livelihoods of agrarian people living in coastal areas where increased incidence of cyclones and tidal surges has lead to saline intrusion into the land and irrigation water.

Doing yoga and building connections with fellow participants in 2015.

In what ways have you used the things you learned at the CSF course?

After completing the CSF course in 2015, I attended a 6-month fellowship program on environmental management for developing and emerging countries at the Center for International Postgraduate Studies on Environmental Management (CIPSEM) at Technical University of Dresden (TUD) in Germany. As part of this fellowship, I had the opportunity to conduct a research project. The conservation economics I learned during the CSF course inspired me to choose economic evaluation of ecosystem services as my research topic.

With the supervision of Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Wende, TUD, and support from CNRS for primary data collection, I completed my research on “Economic evaluation of carbon sequestration and storage services: an example from the Sundarbans mangrove ecosystem in Bangladesh.” I used a Willingness-to-Pay (WTP) survey (sample size 130) to determine the value of carbon sequestration and storage services to the people dependent on the Sundarbans for their livelihood. The findings of this study might be very useful for decision-making about the conservation of the Sundarbans as a carbon sink. At the moment, we are working to publish this study in the journal of Ecosystem Services.

2015 International course graduates at Stanford University.

What are your ideas or hopes for future projects?

I would like to use the GIS and Remote Sensing to map and assess ecosystem services in my country in the coming years.

Do you have anything else you would like to share with us?

The Director of CNRS, Anisul Islam, is also a CSF alumni from 2007 and since I attended the course in 2015 and shared what I learned, CNRS has been very enthusiastic about economic evaluation of ecosystem services. We are keen to find additional opportunities to use this expertise in Bangladesh.

We'll be keeping up with Karimon as she completes her degree in the Netherlands, and uses that knowledge to tackle pressing environmental issues in Bangladesh. Stay tuned for our next Alumni Spotlight to learn more about CSF's favorite conservation champions around the world.