Dr Mathur joined the Indian Forest Service (IFS) and topped the 1983-85 IFS Professional Course at the Indira Gandhi National Forest Academy (IGNFA), Dehradun and also the XLV Foundational Course at Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration (LBSNAA), Mussoorie in 1985. He obtained his doctorate degree in wildlife ecology from the University of Oxford, the United Kingdom in 1991. He is the Regional Vice-Chair of the IUCN-World Commission on Protected Areas (WCPASouth Asia) and a Member of the International Association of Impact Assessment (IAIA) since 1999. He has now spent over three decades actively contributing to a wide range of conservation, research and professional programmes in the field of wildlife and biodiversity conservation. He has extensive experience as an environmental professional and his special interest include natural resource conservation, heritage conservation, environmental & strategic impact assessment and risk management.