Dr. Pema Gyamtsho joined ICIMOD as its Director General in October 2020. He is the first Director General from the region that ICIMOD serves since its establishment in 1983. Prior to joining ICIMOD, he served the Royal Government of Bhutan for over three decades, holding positions in natural resources management and planning rural development, agriculture, forestry, livestock and food production, rangeland management, livestock development, participatory approaches, research and extension institutional building, climate change and environmental protection, biodiversity conservation and organic farming.

Pema was Deputy Secretary of Bhutan’s Ministry of Agriculture and Forests from 1998 to 2002, where he was responsible for policy and planning. From 2002 to 2006, he worked at ICIMOD, initially leading policy and partnerships work, then taking up the centre’s regional rangeland management work. He then joined Helvetas/Swiss Development Corporation as Deputy Resident Coordinator, a position he held from 2006 to 2007.

In 2008, he returned to government office in Bhutan, serving as Minister of Agriculture and Forests till 2013. In this role, he led over 4,000 personnel working in the agriculture, livestock, forestry and environment sectors. His roles ran from the senior-most level of decision-making in Bhutan – where he shaped and often led the enactment of over 60 pieces of legislation – to the grassroots level where he oversaw the formation of over 400 farmers’ groups and cooperatives. He also led Bhutan’s delegation to COP15 in Denmark in 2009, where he deposited Bhutan’s instrument to remain carbon neutral, making it one of the first declarations of its kind. Between 2013 and 2020, he was a member of the National Assembly of Bhutan.

Pema holds an MSc in agriculture from Lincoln University, New Zealand, and a PhD in natural sciences from the Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich, Switzerland.