Mahardika Putra Purba or Dika as people called him, is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Forestry at the State Agricultural Polytechnic of Kupang (Politani Kupang) in Timor Island, Indonesia. He is also the former Program Director of Alam Sehat Lestari (ASRI), an NGO focusing on Planetary Health (Interconnection between human health and the health of environment) located in West Kalimantan, as well as an affiliated researcher in the Program for Disease Ecology, Health and the Environment at Stanford University.
He is currently involved in Health in Harmony (HIH) projects in Madagascar as an Ecosystem Restoration specialist where he is supporting the project team on the ground remotely through developing an ecosystem restoration protocol, as well as monitoring and maintenance protocol and ensuring that it is implemented correctly. He is also involved in assisting the project team in soil sampling and soil analysis, and organizing HIH project partners in Madagascar on restoration discussion through workshops and regular meetings. In 2020, He was trained by the former US vice president Al-Gore and joined the Climate Reality Project International.
He holds a B.Sc with majors in forestry engineering from the University of Sumatera Utara in Indonesia, an M.Sc in tropical silviculture from Bogor Agricultural University, and an M.Sc in forest genetics from the University of Zurich, and currently finalising his collaborative research in conservation genetics of tropical endangered tree species with the University of Copenhagen.
His research/work focus on forest genetics, forest conservation, and ecosystem restoration. Since he began his role at ASRI and HIH he was also broadening his research areas and expertise to planetary health to ensure that as many people as possible benefit from this planetary health approach to conservation and sustainable development.