Dr. Irshad Ahmad Thoker | Geography | Best Researcher Award
Government Degree College Tral, Jammu and Kashmir | India
Dr. Irshad Ahmad Thoker is an accomplished assistant professor of geography whose academic journey spans advanced degrees in geography, combining strong expertise in physical geography and environmental studies. He possesses over five years of teaching experience and approximately seven years of active research engagement. Dr. Thoker’s research centers on sustainable forest resource management, notably spatial and temporal forest cover change, the impact of joint forest management (JFM) on ecosystem health and rural livelihoods, community‐based conservation, and the climate-forest nexus using GIS, remote sensing, and statistical modelling. His publications—featured in respected journals such as Forest Policy and Economics and Environment, Development and Sustainability—have garnered citations and reflect a growing scholarly influence, with an h-index of 4 and total citations near 60. He has contributed first-authored studies on environmental knowledge and JFM participation, as well as collaborative work evaluating community adaptation and vulnerability in the Himalayan context. He has also received national fellowships recognizing his academic contributions in geography. Overall, Dr. Thoker’s interdisciplinary research bridges social and natural sciences and informs policy through evidence‐based analysis of participatory forest governance and climate adaptation in fragile mountain regions.
Profile : Scopus | Google Scholar
Featured Publications
“Climate change, hailstorm incidence, and livelihood security: a perspective from Kashmir valley India”
“Integrating traditional knowledge with GIS for snow avalanche susceptibility mapping in Kargil-Ladakh region of trans-Himalayan India”
“Towards sustainable forest management: an examination of environmental knowledge among forest dwellers in the Kashmir Himalayas”
“An appraisal of people’s participation in the joint forest management programme in the Kashmir Himalayas”