Wild Edibles and Sustainable Development Goals

Shalini Dhyani (PhD) is a principal scientist at the National Environmental Engineering Research Institute (NEERI), a constituent laboratory under the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), India. Her work spans over two decades in the fields of ecosystem management, biodiversity conservation, nature-based solutions, and sustainability science. Dr. Dhyani is internationally recognized for her interdisciplinary research that links ecological integrity with social well-being, especially in the context of climate change, forest restoration, and urban resilience. She serves as the Asia Vice Chair and Steering Committee Member of the Commission on Ecosystems Management (CEM) of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), where she plays a pivotal role in shaping science-policy for ecosystem-based approaches for conservation and resilience across the region. She is also a UNESCO-TWAS (The World Academy of Sciences) Associate and a Visiting Scientist at the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR), Indonesia. Dr. Dhyani has contributed as a lead author to major global and regional assessments, including the IPBES Thematic Assessment on the Sustainable Use of Wild Species (2022), the Asia-Pacific Regional Assessment on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (2018), IUFRO Global Assessment on Forests as Pillars of Socio-Economic Resilience (2025), Springshed outlook by ICIMOD, Nepal (2026) and also involved as CLA in report on Rangelands and Pastoralism in Hindukush Himalaya by ICIMOD. Her work emphasizes the integration of diverse knowledge systems including indigenous and local knowledge into policy and practice, with a strong focus on people-centric and multi-sectoral approaches. As an editor, she brings critical insight into the role of ecosystems in shaping sustainable and inclusive futures. She is also a member of the editorial boards of leading journals such as Sustainability Science, Agroforestry Systems, and Restoration Ecology, further advancing interdisciplinary scholarship in ecosystem science and practice.

Esther Katz (PhD) is a French anthropologist, emerita research director at the Institute of Research for Development (IRD), in the Joint Research Unit 208 PALOC IRD/CNRS/MNHN – Local Heritage, Environment and Globalization, based at the National Museum of Natural History (MNHN), in Paris, France. Her main research topics deal with anthropology of food, ethnobiology/ethnoclimatology, indigenous and local knowledge and cultural identity. She has been doing fieldwork with indigenous people and local communities in Mexico, Brazil and on shorter periods in Ecuador and Colombia. She has also carried out fieldworks in Central America, Southeast Asia, central Africa and Europe. She has been seconded to UNAM in Mexico, University of Brasilia in Brazil, and the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR) in Indonesia. Over the last years, she has been involved in projects on food heritage, agrobiodiversity and environmental change in Latin America. She is presently coordinating a project on edible insects in the same continent. She has contributed as a lead author to IPBES (Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services) assessment on Sustainable Use of Wild Species (2022) and to Brazilian Society for the Progress of Science Assessment on Contribution of indigenous people and local traditional communities to Brazilian biodiversity (2021).