Natarajan Ishwaran obtained his BSc in Zoology and MSc in Ecology from the University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka. His Ph.D. in Fisheries and Wildlife is from Michigan State University, USA. In 1986, he joined UNESCO in Paris, France and built a career serving as Chief, Natural Heritage Section of UNESCO’s World Heritage Centre (1996-2004) and Director, Division of Ecological and Earth Sciences (2004 to 2012). In 2012 he was appointed “State Recruited Expert” under the Chinese Government’s Thousand Talent’s Program and assisted the International Centre on Space Technologies for Natural and Cultural Heritage (HIST) under the auspices of UNESCO. He is a Member of the Scientific Committee of the Digital Belt and Road Program (DBAR). During 2018-2021 he served as the Editor-in-Chief of the Elsevier Journal, Environmental Development. He began working with DDE in 2020 as Director, International Promotion and has been a Member of the DDE Executive Committee. Currently he is the DDE Secretary General and heads the DDE Secretariat.
