[1] Okarma was born in Nysa and spent his childhood and youth in Nowy Sącz, where he obtained his university entrance qualification.
From 1989 to 1996 he worked in the Department of Mammalian Research of the Polish Academy of Sciences in Białowieża.
From 1997 he worked at the Institute of Nature Conservation of the Polish Academy of Sciences in Kracow, until 2003 as an associate professor.
Since 2004 he has also been working in the Department of Hunting Research at the Institute of Environmental Sciences of the Jagiellonian University in Kraków.
He is a member of the Board of Trustees of the Faculty II of Bio- and Agricultural Sciences of PAN.