Aarti Gupta

Dr. Aarti Gupta

Senior Fellow (Alumni)

  • Aarti Gupta is an Associate Professor with the Environmental Policy Group, in the Department of Social Sciences, Wageningen University in the Netherlands. The Environmental Policy Group at Wageningen is one of the largest multidisciplinary social science research groups in the Netherlands, bringing various perspectives (political science, sociology and human geography) to bear on environmental and sustainability governance. Within her research group, Aarti coordinates the “Governing Climate Futures” research theme. Until 2014, she served as a member of the group’s Daily Management Board. She is the co-founder of the Wageningen University REDD@WUR network, an interdisciplinary network of over 80 researchers working on the interface between climate and forest governance. She is also a co-coordinator of the Governance Cluster on Sustainable Development within the Netherlands Research School on Environmental Sciences (SENSE). From 2008-2012, she served as Vice-Chair of the EU-FP7 European Cooperation in Science and Technology (COST) Action IS0802 Transformations in Global Environmental Governance, a research network of 19 European countries.
  • Aarti is also a Lead Faculty member in the Earth System Governance international research alliance. She is currently one of six Coordinating Lead Authors tasked with developing the Science and Implementation Plan for the next phase of this global research network (2018-2028). She serves as Associate Editor of the journal Global Environmental Politics, and is a member of the editorial board of International Environmental Agreements. She is an invited member of a high-level “Academic Working Group on International Governance of Climate Engineering” established by American University. As of 2017, she is also an invited member of an international group of 16 academics, spearheaded by Norwegian and Canadian scholars working on sustainable development, to revisit through workshops and papers the legacy of the Brundtland Report, Our Common Future, on the 30th anniversary of its publication.
  • Climate Engineering / Anticipating Climate Futures
  • Climate Change Politics and Policy

Publications prior to joining the RIFS

  • Bastos Lima, Mairon G.; Kissinger, Gabrielle; Visseren-Hamakers, Ingrid J.; Braña-Varela, Josefina; Gupta, Aarti. 2017. The Sustainable Development Goals and REDD+: assessing institutional interactions and the pursuit of synergies International Environmental Agreements: Politics, Law and Economics (online first).
  • Turnhout, Esther; Gupta, Aarti; Weatherley, Janice; Vijge, Marjanneke J.; Koning, Jessica De; Visseren-Hamakers, Ingrid ; Herold, Martin; Lederer, Markus. 2017. Envisioning REDD+ in a post-Paris era: between evolving expectations and current practice. Wiley Interdisciplinary reviews: climate change (8) 1.
  • Dooley, Kate; Gupta, Aarti. 2016. Governing by expertise: the contested politics of (accounting for) land-based mitigation in a new climate agreement International Environmental Agreements: Politics, Law and Economics (online first).
  • Gupta, Aarti, and Michael Mason. 2016. Disclosing or obscuring? The politics of transparency in global climate governance. Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability 18, 82-90.
  • Gupta, Aarti, Till Pistorius and Marjanneke J. Vijge. 2016. Managing fragmentation in global environmental governance: the REDD+ partnership as bridge organization. International Environmental Agreements 16, 3, 355–374.
  • Weatherley-Singh and Aarti Gupta. 2015. Drivers of Deforestation and REDD+ Benefit-Sharing: A meta-analysis of the (missing) link. Environmental Science & Policy 54, 97-105.
  • Stattman, Sarah and Aarti Gupta. 2015. Negotiating authority in global biofuel governance: Brazil and the EU in the WTO. Global Environmental Politics 15, 1: 41-59.
  • Gupta, Aarti and Michael Mason, eds. 2014. Transparency in global environmental governance: Critical perspectives, Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
  • Zelli, Fariborz, Aarti Gupta and Harro van Asselt. 2013. Institutional interactions at the crossroads of trade and environment: the dominance of liberal environmentalism? Global Governance 19, 1: 105-118.
  • Biermann, Frank; Kenneth Abboth,.. Aarti Gupta,…et. al. 2012. Navigating the anthropocene: improving earth system governance Science 335: 6074.
  • Gupta, Aarti, Eva Lövbrand, Esther Turnhout and Marjanneke Vijge, 2012. In pursuit of carbon accountability: the politics of REDD+ measuring, reporting and verification systems. Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability 4, 6: 726-731.
  • Gupta, Aarti. 2011. An evolving science-society contract in India: the search for legitimacy in anticipatory risk governance. Food Policy 36, 6: 736-741.
  • Biermann, Frank, and Aarti Gupta. 2011. Accountability and legitimacy in earth system governance: a research framework. Ecological Economics 70, 11:1856-1864.
  • Biermann, Frank, and Aarti Gupta. 2011. Accountability and legitimacy: an analytical challenge for earth system governance. Ecological Economics 70, 11:1854-1855.
  • Gupta, Aarti. 2010. Transparency to what end? Governing by disclosure through the Biosafety Clearing House. Environmental and Planning C: Government and Policy, 28, 1: 128 – 144.
  • Gupta, Aarti. 2010. Transparency in global environmental governance: a coming of age? Global Environmental Politics 10 (3): 1-9.
  • Gupta, Aarti. 2010. Transparency as contested political terrain: Who knows what about the global GMO trade and why does it matter? Global Environmental Politics 10, 3: 32-52.
  • Jansen, Kees, and Aarti Gupta. 2009. Anticipating the Future: ‘Biotechnology for the Poor’ as Unrealized Promise? Futures 41, 7: 436-445.
  • Invited Speaker, Plenary Roundtable Panel of Experts, Future Directions in Climate Governance Scholarship, Linköping University Silver Jubilee Symposium, May 2014.
  • Invited Speaker, Plenary Roundtable, Synthesizing Key Insights, Norwich Conference on Allocation and Access in Earth System Governance, July 2014.
  • Invited Speaker and Discussant, Science and Expertise in Global Environmental Governance, Workshop on Experts in Decision-making, Erasmus University School of Law. Rotterdam, Netherlands, June 2011.
  • Invited Speaker, Effective Implementation of the Biosafety Protocol: Key Challenges. Expert Meeting on the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety, Royal Institute of International Affairs (Chatham House) London, 25 November 2004.
  • Invited Speaker, Governing Trade in Risky Substances: the Case of Genetically Modified Organisms. The Institute for Social Studies, ISS Seminar Series, The Hague, Netherlands. November 11, 2004.
  • Invited Speaker, Prior Informed Consent and Global Risk Governance. Expert Workshop on “Informed Consent” in medicine and technology. TU-Delft, Netherlands. March 24, 2004.
  • Aarti Gupta is the recipient of multiple fellowships and awards, including a 2017 Wageningen University Excellent Education Award, as well as 6 additional university teaching awards during the period 2007 – 2017.
  • In 2016, she was one of 22 women selected to be profiled in the Wageningen University publication “Inspiring Women at WUR”. Additional postdoctoral and dissertation awards received include: an Individual Research and Writing Grant from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation; a postdoctoral fellowship from the Center for Science and Politics (CSPO); a Global Environmental Assessment Fellowship (awarded two consecutive years) from Harvard University; a Joseph L. Fisher Dissertation Fellowship from Resources for the Future; a Teresa Heinz Scholarship for Environmental Research from the Heinz Family Foundation; and a Henry Hart Rice Fellowship from the Yale Centre for International and Area Studies. She is also the recipient of the Milton Sachs Prize for Research in Politics from Brandeis University, and is an elected member of the Phi Beta Kappa honors society in the US.