Ms. Naysa Ahuja is a lawyer and development professional with over 15 years of experience in forest and land governance, climate finance, environmental and social risk management, and inclusive policy design. She currently serves as Accreditation Officer (Compliance and Strategy) at the Adaptation Fund, where she leads the Fund’s accreditation and compliance portfolio. In this capacity, she works with the Accreditation Panel and the Fund Board to assess institutional capacities, strengthen fiduciary and safeguards systems, and expand direct access for national and regional institutions to climate finance. Her work emphasizes environmental justice, transparency, and equitable participation in the governance of global climate funds.

Before joining the Adaptation Fund, Ms. Ahuja worked with the World Bank’s Environment and Natural Resources Global Practice and the Climate Change Group. Her work focused on strengthening environmental governance and social inclusion in fragile and conflict-affected settings across South Asia and Africa, including Afghanistan, Sudan, and the Sahel region. She supported governments in integrating forest tenure, landscape restoration, biodiversity conservation, and climate-adaptation measures into national programs, and contributed to several carbon finance and REDD+ readiness initiatives. A certified Environmental and Social Framework specialist, she has advanced Indigenous Peoples’ inclusion and benefit-sharing mechanisms through field-based consultations and policy design.

Earlier, she held positions with the World Resources Institute, Enviro Legal Defence Firm, the Environmental Law Institute, WWF-India, and UNICEF, advising governments and civil society organizations on environmental rule of law, participatory forest management, and access to environmental justice.

Ahuja has played a pivotal role in international flagship reports and analytical tools, including WRI’s Environmental Democracy Index (2015) and UNEP Environmental Rule of Law: First Global Report (2019). She also co-authored a chapter, Advancing Human Rights through Environmental Rule of Law in the book Human Rights and the Environment: Legality, Indivisibility, Dignity and Geography.

Ahuja holds an LL.M. in Environmental and Human Rights Law from The George Washington University Law School and a Bachelor of Laws from the University of Delhi. She is a licensed attorney in India and has completed certifications from Harvard University, the Frankfurt School of Finance & Management, Wageningen University, and the Geneva Centre for Security Policy.