Basanta Guatam

As Manager, REDD+ Technical Innovation at Verra, Basanta leads the implementation of Verra’s ongoing updates to the Avoiding Unplanned REDD+ methodologies. His focus will be on data collection and allocation.

Basanta comes to Verra after serving more than 14 years at Arbonaut Ltd. in Finland, a firm that collects and processes data for forest inventory and natural resource management worldwide. Basanta was the Manager REDD+ and Sustainable Forestry at Arbonaut and has project experience in Asia and Africa. He has extensive experience working with multi-cultural teams and diverse projects, which serves him well in coordinating the aims of the Verra stakeholders. Basanta holds a master’s degree in agriculture and forestry from the University of Eastern Finland (UEF) and another in remote sensing and GIS from the Centre for Space Science and Technology Education in Asia and the Pacific (CSSTEAP)/Indian Institute of Remote Sensing (IIRS) in India. Basanta’s native language is Nepalese, and he also speaks and understands Hindi/Urdu.

Basanta is based in Helsinki, Finland.