Dr. Anu Kumari Lama
Tourism Specialist,
International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD);
Nepal
Dr. Anu Kumari Lama is the tourism specialist at the International Center for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD). ICIMOD is a leading regional and intergovernmental knowledge and learning center, serving 8 regional member countries (RMCs) of the Hindu Kush Himalaya (HKH) – Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, China, India, Myanmar, Nepal and Pakistan. She has over two decades of experience of working in the field of mountain tourism sustainability in areas of research, policy, planning, destination development and management at an intersection of tourism climate action (adaptation, mitigation and resilience building), nature positive tourism and sustainable development goals (SDGs).
Currently, she leads Sustainable Mountain Tourism Component (SMTC) in support of operationalizing ICIMOD’s strategy Moving Mountains 2030, by transforming mountain tourism to sustainable and climate resilient future. It focuses on informing and enabling science-based tourism climate action (adaptation, mitigation and resilience building) for policy uptake and community led actions on the ground.
Dr Lama serves as one of the lead experts of the Tourism Panel on Climate Change (TPCC), contributing to co-development of the global stocktake report on tourism and climate change. TPCC is an independent science based global collaboration of over 60 experts from 30 countries. It aims to support and accelerate the tourism sector’s transition to net zero emissions, nature-positive climate solutions and climate resilient destinations. She also serves as an External Assessor for Mountain Protection Award (MPA) of the International Climbing and Mountaineering Federation (UIAA). She also serves as the faculty member of the Himalayan University Consortium Academy and resource person for Thematic Working Group – Mountain Tourism and Cultural Heritage. She works closely with the HUC and its members, bringing cross initiative and interdisciplinary academic and research collaboration in the space of sustainable mountain tourism and climate action.