ABOUT THE PARTICIPANTS

Ephraim Nkonya

Ephraim Nkonya, a senior research fellow at the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) in Washington D.C. Ephraim joined IFPRI in 1999 after completing a PhD in agricultural economics at Kansas State University. Ephraim’s research interest is in natural resource management and its relationship with poverty. His research work has focused on the linkage between poverty and land management and impacts of programs on poverty and natural resource management. He also works on climate change and how farmers can use land management practices to adapt to climate change. Ephraim’s research is mainly focused on Africa and central Asia.

Mohamed Bakarr

Dr Mohamed Bakarr is senior environmental specialist in the Secretariat of the Global Environment Facility (GEF), based at the World Bank in Washington, DC. He is member of the GEF Natural Resources Team with primary responsibility for sustainable land management in sub-Saharan Africa. Prior to joining the GEF, Mohamed worked for seven years at Conservation International in several capacities including most recently as executive director of the Center for Applied Biodiversity Science; and four years at the World Agroforestry Center (ICRAF) in Nairobi, Kenya as director of strategic initiatives and assistant director general.

His professional career spans several aspects of integrated natural resource management including biodiversity conservation, agroforestry land use and ecological restoration. Mohamed holds a MS and PhD in Tropical Ecology from the University of Miami.

Frank Place

Frank Place is an economist and leader of the Land and People theme at the World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF). Frank is based in Nairobi , where he lead a multi-country project for the Land Tenure Center at the University of Wisconsin. His main interests are in property rights, technology adoption and impact (especially in reaching the poor and women), and agroforestry and natural resource systems in sub-Saharan Africa. Earlier, Frank was a consultant at the World Bank where he participated in a multi-country land tenure study. He holds a PhD in economics from the University of Wisconsin.

Martin Bwalya

Martin Bwalya is lead specialist for sustainable land and water management at the Secretariat of the New Partnership for African Development (NEPAD), based in Midrand, South Africa. He has had a distinguished career in research and promotion of adaptation of sustainable land management approaches throughout Africa. He is currently one of leads in the development of the Pillar 1 Framework - Sustainable Land and Water Management for NEPAD’s Comprehensive African Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP).

Sara Scherr

Sara J. Scherr is the President CEO Ecoagriculture Partners, an environmental non-profit organisation based in Washington DC. Sara is an agricultural and natural resource economist specialising in land and forest management policy in tropical developing countries. She is a member of the United Nations Millennium Project Task Force on Hunger as well as on the Board of Directors of the World Agroforestry Centre in Nairobi, Kenya.

Dr Mark Dangerfield

Dr Mark Dangerfield is an ecologist who trained in the mud and rain of the United Kingdom, but escaped, first to a decade of solace in the warmth of African savannas and then, in 1996, to the forests and paddocks of Australia. He is passionate about the objective use of science to understand and manage our environment because at the moment he thinks we do a poor job at both. His technical expertise is in biodiversity, ecological processes, statistical analysis and natural resource management including the assessment of carbon, especially in soil.

He has held faculty positions at universities in the UK, Africa and Australia, published more than 120 peer-reviewed articles and reports and founded a company that delivered measures of environmental health. Currently he provides scientific consulting services in Australia and overseas. His latest book is Awkward News for Greenies.

Estherine Lisinge Fotabong

Estherine Lisinge Fotabong is advisor for environment and tourism at the NEPAD Secretariat and national programme coordinator for UNEP DGEF in South Africa. Previously she has been a law lecturer at the University of Soa, Yaounde,  Cameroon; director of policy and strategy at WWF Central African Regional Programme Office; and biodiversity and NEPAD programme officer with UNEP. Estherine has also served on several panels and international steering committees, including as member of the CBD Expert Panel on Access and Benefit Sharing and IUCN WCPA Regional Vice-Chair for West and Central Africa, among others.

She has co-authored several publications related to environmental law and policy, in which she holds Master’s degrees from the universities of Yaounde and George Washington in Washington, DC.