Staff

Sharon Khan

Recruiting Director
Since 7/16/12

Sharon has been with Waterkeeper Alliance since 2004 and is now the Recruitment Director responsible for expanding Waterkeeper Alliance so that the local fight for clean water becomes a powerful coordinated global movement. From 2012-2017, Sharon served as International Director, supervising our work in over 30 countries around the world where local Waterkeeper organizations are fighting hard to keep our waters swimmable, drinkable, and fishable.  A passionate beach bum, Sharon’s commitment to Waterkeeper Alliance began in 2004 as an economics fellow before she graduated into the position of staff economist, providing staff lawyers and local Waterkeeper organizations with the best defensible economic evidence for watershed protection.  In 2008, Sharon’s adventures took her to Geneva, Switzerland where she consulted with the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), including its Chemicals Branch. There Sharon co-authored the Costs of Inaction Report on the global health and environmental costs of harmful chemicals — with results about pesticides that captured headlines around the world and significant attention from governments and industry. Also during her time in Geneva, Sharon authored a background report on The Costs and Benefits of Investing in Ecosystem Services for Water Supply and Flood Protection for the Water chapter of the Green Economy Report.

With Waterkeeper Alliance, Sharon partnered with The Ocean Foundation’s Coastal Ocean Values Center (COVC) to help build communities of practice in coastal marine valuation. With COVC, Sharon partnered with the International Coral Reef Initiative, Conservation International, World Resources Institute, and NOAA to produce a global compilation on the economic values of coral reefs, mangroves, and seagrasses launched at the 2008 International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) World Conservation Congress.

Sharon has an MSc in Applied Environmental Economics from Imperial College, London and a BA in Economics from Carleton University in Ottawa. She was born in Guyana, grew up swimming and fishing in Ottawa, Canada, and has lived, studied, and worked in the United States, India, and Switzerland.  She currently lives in Brooklyn with two handsome, funny, and smart young men.

Sharon Khan's Articles

Waterkeeper Alliance Takes On Ocean Plastic Pollution
Nov 7 2017
Defending Marine Protected Areas in Belize
Oct 24 2017
A Summit Amid the Himalayan Summits, Where More Waterkeepers Arise
Aug 2 2017