Ghazala Shahabuddin has a PhD in Ecology and Conservation Biology from Duke University, USA (1998). She is currently a Visiting Professor in Environmental Studies at Ashoka University, Sonepat, Haryana. Since 2010, Ghazala has been researching long-term ecological change in multiple-use landscapes in the oak-pine forest biome in Uttarakhand, including the effects of land use change, climate change, biomass extraction and fragmentation on birds and trees. She has published extensively on ornithology, protected areas, forestry and conservation policies and politics in India. Her long-term goals are to enhance the capacity of young people to rejuvenate their environment and to undertake ecological research that is of value to conservation.