Prakash Mani Sharma is a distinguished legal expert with a specialization in environmental and natural resources law, holding master’s degrees in both Environmental and Natural Resources Law and Comparative Law, along with a Diploma in Law. With a career dedicated to public interest and environmental justice, he has been a leading figure in shaping Nepal’s legal landscape, particularly in the field of public interest litigation (PIL). He is the Patron of the Prakash Mani Sharma Academy for Public Interest Law, established in 2023, and currently serves as the Vice Chair of Climate Change and Coexistence Worldwide since 2022. He is also the founder and former executive member of the Community Mediators Society (2010–2015) and played a key role as President of the NGO Forum on Urban Water and Sanitation in Kathmandu from 2010 to 2014. His long-standing association with the Supreme Court Bar Association of Kathmandu includes roles as Councillor (1996–1998, 2010–2012) and Executive Member (1992–1994), and he has been a member of the Association since 1984. He is also a founding member of the Forum for Protection of Public Interest (Pro Public), established in 1991.
His international exposure includes participation in several prestigious training programs such as the Training of Trainers on Mindful Participatory Facilitation Skills held in Thailand in 2019, and the International Training on Dialogue and Meditation organized by Uppsala University and the Dag Hammarskjöld Foundation in Sweden in 2017. He has also completed advanced courses on the justiciability of economic, social, and cultural rights, as well as advanced meditation training, integrating these learnings into his legal and community work.
In academia, Sharma has contributed as a lecturer at Nepal Law Campus for two years and has served as a part-time faculty member at Kathmandu School of Law and National Law College. He has guided numerous L.L.M. thesis papers and evaluated them as both an internal and external examiner, further mentoring young legal minds with a strong focus on public interest litigation.
A pioneer in Nepal’s public interest legal movement, Sharma has mentored numerous lawyers and filed hundreds of PILs before the Supreme Court of Nepal, advocating for the environmental, social, economic, and cultural rights of the people. His relentless efforts have resulted in several landmark judgments that have shaped Nepal’s jurisprudence in environmental human rights. Most recently, in 2024, he filed a petition with the UNESCO World Heritage Committee to safeguard Sagarmatha National Park from the adverse effects of global warming, further demonstrating his commitment to environmental conservation and global justice.