Chandra Giri

Chandra Prasad Giri (born May 13, 1961) is a Nepalese-American author, scientist, and businessman. He specializes in remote sensing and sensor technologies in mapping and monitoring of land cover and mangrove forests. Giri is currently chief of the Sensing and Spatial Analysis branch of the United States Environmental Protection Agency and adjunct professor at Duke University in North Carolina. Prior to this, he worked as senior scientist at the United States Geological Survey, Columbia University, the Asian Institute of Technology, the United Nations Environment Programme, and the Nepal Government. Prior to this he worked as a school teacher at Dangi Secondary School, Dangihat, Morang, Nepal and Dhulabari Secondary School, Dhulabari, Jhapa, Nepal

His work produced the first, most comprehensive and highest resolution mangrove forest database of the world using earth observation satellite data at 30 meters spatial resolution. The overall goal of his research is to assess the present status and historical dynamics of land cover and land use to describe and quantify patterns, trends, rates, causes, and consequences of both natural and anthropogenic changes from local to global scales.

Early life and education
Giri was born in an extremely remote village in the foothills of Mount Everest in Nepal. His parents were farmers in a rural village called Chimchima in the middle hills of Nepal. In the early years, he was raised by his grandfather Pratap Giri and his mother Rupa Giri.

Books
Giri is the author of the books listed below.


 * 'Remote sensing of land use and land cover: Principles and Applications. The book became the best seller among remote sensing publications in 2012.


 * Remote Sensing in Mangroves Vol I 2021.


 * Remote Sensing in Mangroves Vol II in 2022.


 * Maile Nadekhekeko Sapana, An Autobiography, Nepali edition in December 2022.


 * Unimagined Dream: A journey from the foothills of Mount Everest to the world stage, English edition in December, 2023,'''

Research
Giri is an expert in the field of mapping and monitoring of mangrove forests. His work focuses on developing new methods to improve scientific understanding of the distribution and dynamics of land cover/mangrove forests.

Song writing
In 2019, Giri co-wrote a Nepali song entitled "timi suna na, timi bujha na"

In March 2020, Giri co-wrote his second Nepali song entitled "Malai Pardeshi Nabhana"

In August 2020, Giri released his third Nepali song entitled "Nache Firiri"

In September, 2020, Giri released his fourth Nepali song (lyrical video) entitled "Sano ra thulo hudaina manchhe, hau hami barabar"

In January, 2021 Giri released his fifth Nepali song entitled "Confuse Chhu"

In December, 2022, Chandra Giri released his sixth Nepali song entitled "Parkhi Baseko Chhu". In this song, Giri is the lyricist and music composer.

In December, 2022, Chandra Giri released his 7th to 16th songs.

Publications
Status and distribution of mangrove forests of the world using earth observation satellite data C Giri, E Ochieng, LL Tieszen, Z Zhu, A Singh, T Loveland, J Masek, ... Global ecology and biogeography 20 (1), 154-159

Finer resolution observation and monitoring of global land cover: First mapping results with Landsat TM and ETM+ data, P Gong, J Wang, L Yu, Y Zhao, Y Zhao, L Liang, Z Niu, X Huang, H Fu, ... International Journal of Remote Sensing 34 (7), 2607-2654

Monitoring mangrove forest dynamics of the Sundarbans in Bangladesh and India using multi-temporal satellite data from 1973 to 2000C Giri, B Pengra, Z Zhu, A Singh, LL Tieszen Estuarine, coastal and shelf science 73 (1-2), 91-100

A comparative analysis of the Global Land Cover 2000 and MODIS land cover data sets C Giri, Z Zhu, B Reed, Remote sensing of environment 94 (1), 123-132

Mangrove forest distributions and dynamics (1975–2005) of the tsunami‐affected region of Asia C Giri, Z Zhu, LL Tieszen, A Singh, S Gillette, JA Kelmelis, Journal of Biogeography 35 (3), 519-528

Distribution and dynamics of mangrove forests of South Asia, C Giri, J Long, S Abbas, RM Murali, FM Qamer, B Pengra, D Thau, Journal of environmental management 148, 101-111

A mangrove forest map of China in 2015: Analysis of time series Landsat 7/8 and Sentinel-1A imagery in Google Earth Engine cloud computing platform, B Chen, X Xiao, X Li, L Pan, R Doughty, J Ma, J Dong, Y Qin, B Zhao, ... ISPRS Journal of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing 131, 104-120

Emerging technologies to conserve biodiversity, SL Pimm, S Alibhai, R Bergl, A Dehgan, C Giri, Z Jewell, L Joppa, R Kays, ...Trends in ecology & evolution 30 (11), 685-696

Land cover mapping of North and Central America—global land cover 2000, R Latifovic, ZL Zhu, J Cihlar, C Giri, I Olthof, Remote sensing of environment 89 (1), 116-127

Mapping the Philippines' mangrove forests using Landsat imagery, JB Long, C Giri, Sensors 11 (3), 2972-2981

Next generation of global land cover characterization, mapping, and monitoring, C Giri, B Pengra, J Long, TR Loveland, International Journal of Applied Earth Observation and Geoinformation 25, 30-37

Global land cover mapping using Earth observation satellite data: Recent progresses and challenges Y Ban, P Gong, C Giri, ISPRS journal of photogrammetry and remote sensing 103, 1-6 List of his publication can be found at Chandra Giri in Google Scholar