Senior Researcher
Urban, Disaster, Forest and Climate.
dilli@forestaction.org
Dilli P. Poudel, Senior Researcher, holds an MPhil and a PhD in Geography from the University of Bergen (Norway) and a Master’s degree in Geography from Tribhuvan University. With more than 15 years of experience in research, teaching, and tourism and over 50 publications, his research focuses on urban issues, just transitions, disasters, climate impacts and adaptation, climate finance, livelihoods, community forestry, and agrarian change. Drawing on theoretical approaches including political economy, resilience, and critical development geography, his publications include peer-reviewed journal articles, a book, book chapters, research reports, policy briefs, booklets, and media op-eds. He also contributed to the development of Tomorrow’s Cities planning model, which aims to reduce disaster risks in rapidly growing cities of the global South.
At ForestAction Nepal, Dr. Poudel is involved in various research projects, grant proposal writing, project design, team building, facilitating knowledge production, and contributing to the organization as a senior member of the research team. Additionally, he has also contributed to the international academic community by reviewing manuscripts for the Oxford Encyclopedia and several international journals.
Selected publications
Poudel, D. P.; Thaisa, C.; Blackburn, S., Manandhar, R. & Ensor, J. (2026). Multi-level urban risk governance and the injustice of misframing: Kathmandu Valley, Nepal. Environment & Urbanization. Sage journals. funded by UKRI GCRF.
Maharjan, K; Thapa, D.; Poudel D.P. & Shrestha, E. 2026 . Development-Disaster Interface: Political Economy of Development-Induced Risk and Vulnerability Creation. Journal of Environmental Studies and Sciences. Vol 16: 3.
Cook, Nathan; Andersson, Krister; Grillos, Tara; Karna, Birendra; Khatri, Dil & Poudel, Dilli P. (2026). Effects of Forestry Decentralization on Rural Inequality in Nepal. Nature Sustainability. Funded by Decision Research Matching System (DRMS) National Science Foundation (NSF), USA.
Comelli, T.; Anika Samm-a; Dilli Poudel; Jamal Dabbeek; Johanna Nalau; Jonathan Ensor; Karim Al-Jawhari; Mark Pelling; Max Hope; Mohammed Khan; Rita Thakuri; Samah Saleh; Tatu Mtwangi-Limbumba; Wilbard Kombe (2026). The power of place-based Future Visioning: enhancing climate justice in urban adaptation. Cities. Vol. 170.
Cook, Nathan; Khatri, Dil B.; Poudel, Dilli P.; Paudel, Govinda & Acharya; Sushant. (2025). “Dropping out of environmental governance: Why Nepal’s community-based forestry program is losing participants. Elementa: Science of the Anthropocene. Elem Sci Anth, 13: 1.
Poudel, D.P.; Marquardt, K; Pain, A. & Khatri D. B. (2024). De-agrarianisation and re-agrarianisation in patches: understanding microlevel land use change processes in Nepalese smallholder landscapes. Forests, Trees and Livelihoods. Vol 33/1 Funded by the Swedish Research Council (Vetenskapsrådet).
Poudel, D. P.; Manandhar, R.; Shrestha, A.; Thapa, S. and Basnet, S. (2024), Socialising Tomorrow’s Cities: envisioning a city in Rapti/Deukhuri Valley, Nepal. Book DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.7488/era/4307
Farnan Farnan R. A.; Ensor, J: Shrestha, A.; Poudel D.; Singh, B.; Thinphanga, P.; Hutanuwatr, K.; Subedi, Y.; Lama, S.; Singh, S. & Friend, F. (2024). Knowledge infrastructures, conflictual coproduction, and the politics of planning: A post-foundational approach to political capability in Nepal and Thailand. Political Geography. Vol. 108. Funded by UK Research & Innovation (UKRI)
Poudel, D. P.; Shrestha, A.; Manandhar, R.; Banjade, M. R.; Timsina, N. P. & Singh, S. (May 2024). Policies for tomorrow’s risk-resilient and equitable cities. Policy Brief. DOI: 7488/era/4447
Poudel, D. P.; Blackburn, S.; Manandhar, R.; Adhikari, B.; Ensor, J.; Shrestha, A. & Timsina, N. (2023). The political ecology of ‘haphazard urbanisation’ and unequal risk creation in the Kathmandu Valley, Nepal. International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction. Vol. 96 – funded by UKRI GCRF.
Poudel, P. (2019). Migration, forest management and traditional institutions: Acceptance of and resistance to community forestry models in Nepal, Geoforum, 106, pp. 275-286.
Poudel, P. (2018). Are traditional and modern forestry institutions complementary or do they prescribe contradictory rights in Trans-Himalayan Nepal? A lesson to be learned for REDD+ implementation, NorskGeografisk Tidsskrift – Norwegian Journal of Geography, 72: 1
Poudel, P. (2014). REDD+ comes with money, not with development: An analysis of post-pilot project scenarios from the community forestry of Nepal Himalaya. International Journal of Sustainable Development & World Ecology, 21: 6