Niak Sian Koh

Koh is a postdoctoral researcher focusing on how biodiversity policies can be designed and implemented to meet our global goals for protecting and restoring nature.

Koh defended her PhD in Sustainability Science at the Stockholm Resilience Centre, Stockholm University. Her thesis “Safeguarding nature and people: Integrating economics, politics, and human rights to transform biodiversity policies and governance”, discussed the design of effective economic policies, explored the intersection of human rights and biodiversity law, and navigated the politics and power underlying policies.

Her work highlights that a human rights-based approach provides important conceptual and political support for biodiversity governance. A range of cases across the globe and at different governance levels were used, from hydropower dams on the Mekong river, conservation projects in eastern and southern Africa, biodiversity offsets from six countries (Australia, England, Germany, Madagascar, South Africa, and the US), and the Convention on Biological Diversity as a global policy process.