Who we are

Vincent Gitz is the director of FTA and ex-officio member of the Independent Steering Committee. Engineer of Ecole Polytechnique (1994), France, he holds a PhD from AgroParisTech on land-use and global climate policies that was awarded the Le Monde Prize for academic research. He previously worked for CIRAD, the International Research Center on Environment and Development (CIRED) and with the Energy Planning Program of the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. He served as adviser for environment, sustainable development and research to the French minister of agriculture and fisheries, Michel Barnier, from 2007-2009, and just prior to joining CIFOR, he was assistant director for food policy at the French Ministry of Agriculture, Agrifood and Forests. From 2010 to 2015, Vincent was coordinator of the High-Level Panel of Experts on Food Security and Nutrition (HLPE), the science-policy interface of United Nation’s Committee on World Food Security (CFS).
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Ramni H. Jamnadass is Principal Scientist and a leader for Tree Genetic Resources program at World Agroforestry and leader of Flagship 1 in the CGIAR Research Program (CRP) Forests Trees and Agroforestry focussing on:

1. Safeguarding diversity in-situ, ex-situ and circa-situ
2. Domestication and Use
3. Seed seedling Delivery systems including Nurseries
4. Economic and Environment benefits of TGR with Institutional development.

She leads a team that delivers research for development products and decision support tools to support conservation and use of the right trees for the right place and purpose (functional uses for e.g. food and nutrition, bioenergy, income generation, ecosystem services, etc.) to realize livelihood and environmental impacts. While also leading ICRAF Genebank, Ramni has strong engagement with the private sector e.g. the African Orphan Crops Consortium, supported by Mars, Inc., Illumina, Inc., and partners in a public-private partnership with a mission to develop and promote use of nutritious tree-foods and annual crops using genomics, with AAK and partners to develop sustainable value chains of Shea in Africa, etc. She holds a PhD in Biochemistry from the Brunel University London and spent many years teaching at the University of Nairobi and Kenyatta University before joining the CGIAR.
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Fergus Sinclair leads ICRAF’s research into the contribution that trees can make to the productivity of farming systems. Fergus is well known for pioneering the development of knowledge-based system methods for acquisition and use of local agro-ecological knowledge; for using participatory modelling to better harness natural resources at the community level; and for exploring tradeoffs between the impact of farm trees on productivity and biodiversity. He has also combined these interests by contributing to the development of interdisciplinary GIS tools for spatially explicit evaluation of ecosystem service synergies and tradeoffs at landscape scales (Polyscape). He is seconded to ICRAF for 50 percent of his time from Bangor University, Wales, the UK, where he serves as director of the Centre for Advanced Research in International Agricultural Development (CARIAD). He is also a visiting professor at CATIE.
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Michael Allen Brady is a Principal Scientist at CIFOR and leads its Value Chains, Finance and Investment (VFI) team as well as FTA’s Flagship 3. He manages VFI programs in Asia, Africa and Latin America in achieving sustainable value chains and commodity supply in forest landscapes; developing business models that deliver improved social and environmental outcomes; and promoting responsible finance that contribute to advancing sustainable land and resource uses. Prior to joining CIFOR he was a senior forestry officer at the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the private sector arm of the World Bank Group. He has worked for over 30 years in Indonesia, and throughout East Asia and sub-Saharan Africa on forestry research, policy and management; forestry investment and finance; forest ecosystem dynamics and restoration; and sustainability standards and certification systems. He has a BSc in biology, a MSc in forest management and a PhD in tropical peat forest science.
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Peter A. Minang is a principal scientist and leader of landscapes governance research at ICRAF. He is also the global coordinator of the ASB Partnership for the Tropical Forest Margins at ICRAF. He has more than 25 years of experience in REDD+, landscape approaches, conservation, community forestry, environmental education, climate forestry, payments for ecosystem services, and development policy and practice in tropical forest landscapes. His current research interests include community-based approaches to ecosystem-based adaptation and resilience, the nexus between adaptation and mitigation to climate change, and the interface between environmental services and development and multifunctional landscapes. He has rich editorial experience, publishing books and journal special issues in Climate Policy and COSUST. He recently published a book on climate smart landscapes. 
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Christopher Martius has been principal scientist in climate change at CIFOR since April 2013. He holds a PhD in Biology from the University of Göttingen, Germany, and is also a lecturer in agroecology at the University of Bonn. He was a senior fellow at the Center for Development Research (ZEF) in Bonn, Germany, and visiting professor at the Indo-German Center for Sustainability (IGCS) in Chennai, India, from 2012-2013. Prior to that, he was assistant director for science programs at the Inter-American Institute for Global Change Research (IAI) in Brazil from 2009-2011. He acted as head of the CGIAR/International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA) Program for Central Asia and the Caucasus in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, from 2008-2009, which won the “CGIAR King Baudouin Award for Outstanding Partnership” in 2008. Previously, he was a senior scientist at ZEF Bonn, where he supervised 30 PhD students, from 1998-2007. He is a cofounder and Advisory Board Member of DesertNet International, a network of scientists dealing with drylands, land degradation and desertification. Christopher coordinated an international, interdisciplinary project on land and water resource management in Uzbekistan, and has over 20 years of work experience in tropical ecology (Brazilian Amazonia, Africa) and in drylands. He worked for many years on conservation agriculture, soil ecology and organic matter in tropical and dryland soils.
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Durai Jayaraman is the Director of Global Programme at the International Bamboo and Rattan Organisation (INBAR). For 15 years, Durai has helped to design and manage large-scale bamboo-based livelihood development programmes across Cambodia, India, and a number of countries in Africa: most recently, as project manager for the Dutch-Sino-East Africa Programme, a trilateral initiative to enhance the development of the bamboo sectors in Ethiopia, Kenya and Uganda. Durai has extensive knowledge and expertise in bamboo-based environmental development, capacity building, partnership development and marketing. He has two Masters degrees: in Social Work from Madras University, and Environment Science and Policy from Clark University.
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Christopher Kettle PhD is an ecologist and geneticist. He has 20 years of research experience working in tropical forest landscapes and restoration. He believes that forest bioversity, especially the diversity of trees, offers a critical and underutilized nature-based solution for multiple sustainable development goals, including climate change mitigation, resilient landscape restoration and sustainable food systems. Since August 2017, Christopher has led Bioversity International’s cross-cutting interdisciplinary research team working on the conservation and sustainable use of socioeconomically and ecologically important trees and their genetic diversity. He leads research programs across Southeast Asia, Latin America and Africa and the safeguarding forest genetic resources cluster of FTA. He holds a joint appointment and is also group leader in the Department of Environmental System Science, ETH Zurich, Switzerland, and an associate scientist in the department of plant science at the University of Oxford, UK. Prior to joining Bioversity International, Christopher was a senior lecturer at ETH Zurich (2007 – present), and supervised over 10 PhD students mostly on topics that inform the conservation and sustainable management of tropical forests. He taught tropical rainforest ecology and led an MSc on resilience of ecological systems. He has a PhD from the University of Edinburgh, UK.
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Plinio Sist is director of the Research Unit on Forests and Societies at CIRAD and coordinator of the Tropical and Subtropical Silviculture Unit of Division 1 at the International Union of Forest Research Organizations (IUFRO). He is a tropical forest ecologist with more than 25 years of experience in South America (Brazil, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Peru) and Southeast Asia (Indonesia, Malaysia). His main interest is in understanding the impact of forest harvesting on the ecology of tropical forests in order to recommend sustainable forest management practices. More recently he has worked on research and development projects on forest landscape restoration and has acted as CIRAD’s representative in major initiatives on forest restoration – the Global Partnership on Forest and Landscape Restoration (GPFLR), Initiative 20x20 and AFR100.
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Eduardo Somarriba has a BS in biology and natural resources, a master’s degree in tropical forest ecology, and a PhD in agroecology (biology) from the University of Michigan. He has been an active researcher, educator and advisor/consultant in agroforestry to various governments and private companies over the last 34 years. He is currently head of the program on Agriculture, Livestock and Agroforestry at CATIE, and the focal point for FTA at CATIE. Eduardo’s current field of research is focused on the optimal management of trees on farms, multistrata agroforestry systems with coffee and cacao, and the production of timber on farms. He has provided technical advice to governments, development projects and NGOs in Latin America, led various science-based development cocoa projects in Bolivia and in Central America, and published nearly 300 publications, including scientific articles, technical manuals, books and educational materials for university students and farmers.
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René Boot is the director of TBI, a Dutch foundation governed by an international board that aims to improve governance and management of tropical forests through research, capacity building and promoting dialogue. René is also a special professor in sustainable tropical forest management at Utrecht University, the Netherlands, where he teaches research policy linkages to MSc students and supervises PhD students in forest ecology and forest dependent livelihoods. He studied ecology and graduated with a PhD in 1990 from Utrecht University. After graduating he worked for 15 years in research and on capacity building projects in the field of sustainable forest management in Guyana and Bolivia. He is a member of the editorial board of the Journal of Tropical Ecology. He is also chair of the Treub Maatschappij, a Dutch society that promotes academic research in the tropics, and chair of the Tresor Foundation, which manages a tropical forest reserve in French Guyana.
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Anne-Marie Izac is an independent scientist who has led research programs at the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) and ICRAF before becoming the deputy director general for research at ICRAF and at CIRAD. She was the first CGIAR Consortium chief science officer until 2014. She also held the positions of CGIAR Consortium chief executive officer during the initial 18 months of the Consortium’s creation and of chief officer of the alliance created by the 15 CGIAR Centers, before the Consortium was created. Izac was a lead author in key reports such as the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (Nutrient chapter). She has been an advisor on sustainable agriculture to the Dutch Royal Academy of Sciences and served on the scientific board of various institutions, such as the Sustainable Agriculture Initiative Platform. She serves on the editorial board of the International Journal of Sustainable Agriculture. Izac is an ecological economist who specializes in sustainable agriculture in developing countries. Her PhD is in environmental and natural resource economics (University of Western Australia) and she earned an MSc in ecology and an MA in environmental and natural resources economics (Washington State University). She is also a graduate of a French ‘Grande Ecole’ (HEC).
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Susan Braatz is a forest ecologist with over 35 years of experience in international forestry, natural resource management and sustainable development. Her areas of expertise include forest ecology, climate change, agroforestry, community forestry, dryland forestry, urban forestry, forest policy, and forests and food security. Susan was a forestry officer at FAO in Rome, Italy, from 1991-2016, most recently holding the positions of team leader: dryland forests, agroforestry and climate change, and senior forestry officer/climate change. She was seconded to the UN Secretariat as senior policy adviser to the United Nations Forum on Forests (2001-2004). Prior to FAO, she held chief technical adviser positions with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Niger and Somalia. Her research experience includes field studies on nutrient cycling in forest ecosystems (Yale University, Indiana University) and policy research on economic botany for the US Congress. Braatz has a Master of Forest Science degree from Yale University and a Bachelor’s degree in Environmental Biology from Smith College, the US.
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Linda Collette is an ecologist who has worked on environmental and developmental issues for more than 35 years, at technical and policy levels. She is currently an advisor to the Legal Research Chair in Food Diversity and Security of Laval University (Québec). As well as graduating as a biologist/ecologist, she has master’s degrees in environmental sciences and project management. Before joining FAO, she worked on technical and policy issues related to sustainable development including environmental impact assessments. She joined FAO in 1998 where she held different positions (sustainable development and environment senior officer, crop and crop associated biodiversity senior officer, team leader on sustainable crop production intensification and secretary of the FAO Commission on Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture). Over that period, she was the secretary and then the chair of the FAO working group on biodiversity until she left FAO in 2015. She initiated the FAO Global Action on Pollination Services for Sustainable Agriculture which included the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)/Global Environment Facility (GEF)-funded pollinator project. Under her leadership the secretariat of the commission on genetic resources initiated a process for the preparation of the first report of the State of the World’s Biodiversity for Food and Agriculture and developed a program of work on climate change and genetic resources adopted by the members of the commission.
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Richard Stanislaus Muyungi has worked in environment and climate change for more than 25 years. He has focused on international environmental and climate policy and governance processes under the UN, particularly the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in the areas of climate finance, capacity building, adaptation and mitigation. He was the UNFCCC Chair of the Subsidiary Body for Scientific and Technological Advice (SBSTA) between 2011 and 2013, responsible for overseeing the scientific dialogue and inputs to support the implementation of climate change adaptation and mitigation programs globally, including the translation of scientific information into policy actions at national level and enhancing the role of the forestry sector in addressing climate change through REDD+. Muyungi also has extensive experience at a national level, and at a continental African level. Most recently he was appointed to manage environment and climate change at Tanzania’s National Power and Energy Company. He holds a degree in agriculture from Sokoine University of Agriculture, a postgraduate diploma in international relations from Reggio Calabria International Relations Institute, Italy, a master’s degree in environmental protection and management from the University of Edinburgh, UK, and a PhD in climate change from the University of Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania.
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Florencia Montagnini is a senior research scientist at Yale University, School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, and director of the Program in Tropical Forestry of the Yale Global Institute for Sustainable Forestry. She also works as a project adviser worldwide. She has served as a senior evaluation expert for conducting an independent evaluation of FTA. Montagnini has written nine books on agroforestry systems, ecological restoration, and tropical forest ecology and management, and about 200 scientific articles, of which 80 percent have been published in international refereed journals. Her teaching experience includes courses in tropical forest ecology and management, agroforestry, restoration ecology, and soil conservation and management. Currently conducting projects in regions encompassing major types of tropical and subtropical humid and dry forest in South and Central America, she collaborates with many universities and other academic, private and government institutions in Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Mexico, and Panama.
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Robert Nasi was born in 1959 in Nice, France. He graduated as a forest engineer from the French National Forestry School and achieved a PhD in the field of ecology from the University of Paris Sud – Orsay. Since 1982, he has been living and travelling extensively in Africa, Asia and the Pacific, undertaking research activities in the fields of ecology and management of tropical forests. He joined CIFOR in August 1999 and held several research and management positions in the organization (principal scientist, biodiversity program leader, program director). He is, since November 1, 2017, the director general of CIFOR, and since January 1, 2014, the deputy director general for research. His particular research interests include the sustainable use of forest products and multiple-use management of tropical forests. His scientific work aims to integrate social and biological sciences for better management of tropical forests, more sustainable livelihoods and better designed forest policies. His main disciplines are ecology, botany, biometrics, tropical forest management and silviculture. He has authored or co-authored more than 300 scientific publications.
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René Boot is the director of TBI, a Dutch foundation governed by an international board that aims to improve governance and management of tropical forests through research, capacity building and promoting dialogue. René is also a special professor in sustainable tropical forest management at Utrecht University, the Netherlands, where he teaches research policy linkages to MSc students and supervises PhD students in forest ecology and forest dependent livelihoods. He studied ecology and graduated with a PhD in 1990 from Utrecht University. After graduating he worked for 15 years in research and on capacity building projects in the field of sustainable forest management in Guyana and Bolivia. He is a member of the editorial board of the Journal of Tropical Ecology. He is also chair of the Treub Maatschappij, a Dutch society that promotes academic research in the tropics, and chair of the Tresor Foundation, which manages a tropical forest reserve in French Guyana.
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Vincent Gitz is the director of FTA and ex-officio member of the Independent Steering Committee. Engineer of Ecole Polytechnique (1994), France, he holds a PhD from AgroParisTech on land-use and global climate policies that was awarded the Le Monde Prize for academic research. He previously worked for CIRAD, the International Research Center on Environment and Development (CIRED) and with the Energy Planning Program of the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. He served as adviser for environment, sustainable development and research to the French minister of agriculture and fisheries, Michel Barnier, from 2007-2009, and just prior to joining CIFOR, he was assistant director for food policy at the French Ministry of Agriculture, Agrifood and Forests. From 2010 to 2015, Vincent was coordinator of the High-Level Panel of Experts on Food Security and Nutrition (HLPE), the science-policy interface of United Nation’s Committee on World Food Security (CFS).
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Stephan joined Bioversity International in 2008 as the director of the Commodities for Livelihoods Programme, based in the Montpellier office in France. He was appointed deputy director general - research in 2011. Before joining Bioversity International, Stephan worked for 16 years with the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) on a variety of programs related to tree crops, the environment and farm diversification in the forest margins of West and Central Africa. From 2002 until he left IITA, he was the regional programme manager of the Sustainable Tree Crops Programme — a public-private partnership and innovation platform that was seeking to increase the income of West and Central African cocoa farmers in an environmentally and socially responsible manner. He was also the coordinator of the working group on agronomic/landscape sustainability in a related program called the ASB Partnership for the Tropical Forest Margins hosted by ICRAF. In addition, he spent four years on integrated weed management and farming systems research at the University of Guelph, Canada, after completing his PhD.
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