Iqbal is a Biodiversity Specialist at Daemeter, working within the Biodiversity, Conservation and Restoration team. His work builds the biodiversity evidence base that underpins HCV-HCS assessments, conservation planning, and emerging nature-positive finance opportunities, designing surveys, building reliable species records, and producing the rigorous reporting that turns ecological data into decision-support for clients across Indonesia’s land-use sectors.

He brings particular depth in ornithology and wetland ecology, with strong expertise in waterbirds, shorebirds, raptors, and freshwater species. With over 220 scientific publications to his name, he is one of the most published biodiversity specialists working in the Indonesian consulting sector, and serves as an RSPO-approved HCV assessor. He is a member of the IUCN Species Survival Commission, sits on several specialist groups, and holds a concurrent lecturing role at a university in South Sumatera. His fieldwork spans much of Sumatera and Kalimantan, providing a longitudinal dataset that supports impact measurement, adaptive management, and biodiversity outcome reporting over time.

Iqbal is driven by a deep personal passion for birds and the natural world, and finds the most reward in field-based problem solving and strengthening the quality of biodiversity data, recognising that better data is the foundation for better conservation decisions and credible biodiversity finance. Before joining Daemeter, he worked on a REDD+ pilot project and a forestry and fire management programme, both in South Sumatera.

He holds a PhD and an MSc in Conservation Biology from Sriwijaya University, and a BSc in Biology from the same institution. He is a native Bahasa Indonesia speaker. The same patience that fuels his fieldwork shows up in his two great loves off the clock: chess and birdwatching.