Astha has joined The Council as a Programme Associate with the Sustainable Food Systems team. Her work focuses on bridging the sustainable consumption and production ends of the food value chain through the levers of market and industry, as well as coordinating overall programme management and strategic advisory for the sustainable food systems team. Through her analysis of value chains such as bamboo, sustainable tourism, biofuels and agroforestry, she has also contributed to the narrative on ‘Building a Green Economy for Viksit Bharat’.

Prior to joining The Council, Astha worked as a project associate with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), supporting the Government of India and the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change in providing innovative steps to finance and support conservation actions in the country. This led to better mobilisation and alignment of public and private, domestic and international finance to the National Biodiversity Action Plan (NBAP), the National Biodiversity Targets and related targets and commitments.   

Astha holds a bachelor's degree in Zoology (Hons.) from the University of Delhi and a master's in Environment Management from GGSIPU New Delhi. Outside of work, Astha is a trained Hindustani Classical singer as well as an avid reader, with a mission to finish at least 8 books in a year. She is also a history and art lover and tries to customise her reading, travelling and general downtime activities around the same.