Dr. Ruchika Singh

Executive Program Director - Food, Land and Water

Bio

Dr. Ruchika Singh is the Executive Program Director of Food, Land, and Water at WRI India, with more than two decades of experience working on environmental and developmental issues, providing leadership, and building programs.

At WRI India, she provides overall strategic direction on how to inform India’s transition towards sustainable food and land use systems with a focus on strengthening the food systems. The program focus is on three key pillars of work around Produce, Protect and Restore, and Reduce, which includes landscape restoration, food loss and waste, and sustainable agriculture. She also focuses on developing solutions with a crossing-cutting lens of people, nature, and climate with intersectionality and a focus on enhancing livelihoods. She is responsible for overall strategy development and integration with institutional goals, fundraising, developing partnerships, leadership, research, and program management at WRI India.

Before working with World Resources Institute and WRI India, Ruchika was an independent research consultant for the World Bank and led two studies on the Forest Rights Act in India. Ruchika began her career with the Foundation for Ecological Security (FES), Dahod, where she worked with the local community on rights, livelihood, gender, and institution building for local self-governance and management of common land. After that, while at the Development and Research Service (DRS), New Delhi, she coordinated a ‘study to prepare a status report on the village industries in rural India.’ She has also worked with the Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) in New Delhi. At TERI, she has had experience conducting evidence-based research as a team leader and/or member on institutional and governance issues related to various aspects of natural resource management and its governance, socio-economic assessment, monitoring and evaluation, and gender equity issues. Ruchika has taught courses on World Politics and Globalization, Governance, and World Order at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. She has also developed course modules on Gender and Water and institutional and governance issues at TERI University, New Delhi. She has worked in interdisciplinary environments with diverse actors -local communities, grassroots-level institutions, government departments, NGOs, bilateral and multilateral organizations, partner organizations, and funders at various levels.

Ruchika holds a PhD (magna cum laude) in Development Studies (with a focus on water governance) from the Center for Development Research (ZEF), University of Bonn. She also holds a double Master’s in Politics from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, and a Master’s in Development Studies from the International Institute of Social Studies, The Hague part of the Erasmus University Rotterdam. Ruchika is an alumnus of Xavier Institute of Social Service and Delhi University. She is a recipient of the NUFFIC Fellowship award for Master in Development Studies at ISS, the Graduate Assistantship Award for Master in Political Science at UMass, Amherst, a DAAD Doctoral fellowship at ZEF, University of Bonn, and a Fieldwork research grant from Dr. Hermann Eiselen Ph.D. Grant from the Fiat Panis Foundation.

Ruchika likes traveling, taking photographs, and reading in her spare time.

Insights Articles

Research

Publications

Ten people-centered rules for socially sustainable ecosystem restoration
By Elias Marlène, Kandel Matt, Mansourian Stephanie, Meinzen-Dick Ruth, Crossland Mary, Joshi Deepa, Kariuki Juliet, Lee Lynn C., McElwee Pamela, Sen Amrita, Sigman Emily, Singh Ruchika, Adamczyk Emily M., Addoah Thomas, Agaba Genevieve, Alare Rahinatu S., Anderson Will, Arulingam Indika, Bellis SG̱iids Ḵung Vanessa, Birner Regina, De Silva Sanjiv, Dubois Mark, Duraisami Marie, Featherstone Mike, Gallant Bryce, Hakhu Arunima, Irvine Robyn, Kiura Esther, Magaju Christine, McDougall Cynthia, McNeill Gwiisihlgaa Daniel, Nagendra Harini, Nghi Tran Huu, Okamoto Daniel K., Paez Valencia Ana Maria, Pagella Tim, Pontier Ondine, Post Miranda, Saunders Gary W., Schreckenberg Kate, Shelar Karishma, Sinclair Fergus, Gautam Rajendra S., Spindel Nathan B., Unnikrishnan Hita, Wilson Gulx̱a taa'a gaagii ng.aang Nadine, Winowiecki Leigh "Restoration Ecology" 30 (2022): e13574 DOI: 10.1111/rec.13574
Equitable and Inclusive Landscape Restoration Planning: Learning from a Restoration Opportunity Assessment in India
By Singh Ruchika, Shelar Karishma, Duraisami Marie, Anderson Will, Gautam Rajendra Singh "Ecological Restoration" 39 (2021): 108-119 DOI: 10.3368/er.39.1-2.108
The untapped potential of mining news media events for understanding environmental change
By Buckingham Kathleen, Brandt John, Anderson Will, Amaral Luiz Fernando, Singh Ruchika "Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability" 45 (2020): 92-99 DOI: 10.1016/j.cosust.2020.08.015

Blogs

Tomato Troubles: Food Loss and Food Waste from Farm to Market
by Shweta Lamba e Dr. Ruchika Singh - October 21, 2024
In a small, predominantly tribal village of Jhabua district in Madhya Pradesh, Sushma and her husband Anil toil hard to cultivate tomatoes in the small parcel of land that they own. They are dependent on the income from growing tomatoes for their household expenses and to repay the loans they take to bear farming costs. However, it is not always profitable to grow tomatoes. Sometimes, they bear losses due to unforeseen weather conditions, pest infestation or poor market prices.
Planning Restoration for India’s Landscapes and Rural Communities
by Marie Duraisami, Dr. Ruchika Singh, Karishma Shelar e Rohini Chaturvedi - July 02, 2018
Landscape restoration is the deliberate integration and enhancement of tree cover within different land uses. It comprises a range of interventions including natural regeneration, mixed plantations, and different agroforestry practices. When implemented at scale, landscape restoration can conserve biodiversity, sequester carbon, enhance rural livelihoods and spur rural economy.