Dr. Monalisa leads the Biodiversity team at ICLEI South Asia. She has over 20 years of experience working with the development sector on issues related to biodiversity conservation, mainstreaming biodiversity, climate change adaptation, nature based solutions, ecological restoration and enterprise based conservation.Monalisa has worked on mainstreaming national biodiversity policies in local planning process in order to promote urban biodiversity and ecosystem restoration in India as well as supporting local governments to contribute to the implementation of the NDCs  and NBSAPs.She has also been instrumental in developing the state strategy for conservation and sustainable utilization of medicinal plants in a state in India. She is actively working on issues related to urban biodiversity, ecosystem service assessment, development of City Biodiversity Index  and Local Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan and implementation of Nature based Solutions for enhancing climate resilience in cities across India.‍