Kanika Sood

Kanika Sood is a masters in law (LL.M.) specializing in environmental law and policy at the Stanford Law School. She is passionate about conservation of biodiversity, environmental justice and climate change adaptation. As a part of the Environment Pro Bono Project at Stanford Law School, she is supporting Landesa in carrying out research on policies to increase women's participation in land use planning and climate change mitigation in various countries. Currently, she is working on a research paper which analyses the forest governance framework in India through the environmental rule of law framework and also looks at ways that governance can be improved through increased stakeholder participation and institutional accountability. 

Kanika grew up in India. Prior to Stanford, she completed her bachelor's in law (LL.B.) from the National Law University, Jodhpur with honours. After graduation, she clerked with Justice Rohinton Nariman at the Supreme Court of India for a year. Following her clerkship, she joined the Legal Initiative for Forest and Environment, an environmental advocacy organization in India which is a Rights Livelihood Award, 2021 Laureate (also known as the Alternative Nobel). She has represented indigenous groups, activists and grassroots organizations across different courts in India to secure environmental justice as well as been a part of various advocacy initiatives. She was also the youngest trainer associated with the Indian government's forest service where she has trained forest officers across the country on the implementation of environmental rules and regulations. Kanika strongly believes in working with stakeholders and empowering communities in their bid to secure environmental justice and build climate resilience as well as working towards effective, accountable and transparent institutions for better environmental governance.