Mr. Amjad Ali
Technical Advisor — Environmental Economics and Mountain Development
Assistant Professor and Head of the Department of Development Studies at Karakoram International University, Hunza Campus. A SANDEE-trained environmental economist working on climate vulnerability and ecosystem services.
Amjad Ali is ClimateWatch's External Advisor on Environmental Economics and Mountain Development.
He is Assistant Professor and Head of the Department of Development Studies at Karakoram International University, Hunza Campus, in Gilgit-Baltistan, and a SANDEE-trained environmental economist.
His research covers environmental and resource economics and sustainable development in high-mountain regions, with published work on climate vulnerability, ecosystem services valuation, sustainable tourism, and the socio-economic dimensions of environmental change in mountain communities. He has held a fellowship at the International Sustainability Academy in Hamburg, where he worked on sustainable tourism in mountain regions, and a research fellowship at the Asian Institute of Technology in Bangkok.
Alongside his academic work he has carried out research and consultancy assignments for WWF Pakistan, the Aga Khan Rural Support Programme, ETI-GB and ICIMOD, covering climate resilience, sustainable livelihoods, and evaluation of development programmes in mountain regions.
He advises ClimateWatch on the economics underlying its research and project work: what mountain ecosystems are worth, what adaptation options return per rupee spent, and how climate vulnerability in Gilgit-Baltistan and Chitral can be measured rather than asserted.
Areas of expertise
- Environmental and resource economics
- Ecosystem services valuation
- Climate vulnerability assessment in mountain communities
- Sustainable tourism in high-mountain regions
- Economic appraisal of adaptation and development interventions