Advisory Committee of the XIV World Forestry Congress
The international Advisory Committee is a key structure of World Forestry Congress. It supports the preparations of the Congress by advising on the content and structure of the technical programme and by proposing keynote speakers and authors of special invited papers and peer reviewing papers. The Committee is also engaged in enhancing wide participation and promoting the event. Some members will also lead a specific thematic area or event of the Congress.
The Advisory Committee is composed of internationally recognized forestry professionals coming from governmental or non-governmental organizations, research institutes, academia or the private sector.
The Advisory Committee of the XIV World Forestry Congress includes the following members:
Lennart Ackzell
Lennart Ackzell is the Senior Advisor, International Affairs at the Federation of Swedish Family Forest Owners. He is engaged in the Confederation of European Family Forest Owners as well as in the Board of the International Family Forest Alliance and its collaboration in the Right Holders Group. Dr Ackzell has a Masters degree in Forestry and a Phd in Forest Genetics. He has spent three years in Africa and was engaged in international forestry-related negotiations for 14 years for the Swedish Government. Since 2008, he works for smallholders and family forestry initiatives.
Yemi Adeyeye
Yemi Adeyeye is a graduate student, studying sustainable tropical forestry, a double-degree Erasmus Mundus Masters program. For his first year, he specialized in environmental forestry at Bangor University, Wales. His second specialization is forests and livelihoods at the University of Copenhagen, Denmark. Prior to his graduate degree, he obtained a Bachelors degree, First Class Honours, in Forestry and Wood Technology from the Federal University of Technology, Akure, Nigeria. He has professional certifications that span from business consultancy to health, safety and environment. Yemi has received various awards and honours as a result of his academic record.
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Mr Adeyeye is a member of the International Forestry Students Association (IFSA). He is IFSA’s Liaison Officer to the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations. He has previously been the Head of Commission for Forest Education and the Northern Africa Regional Representative.
Mr Adeyeye has garnered substantial level of involvement in international forestry processes. Among many others, he has provided organizational support for the Learning Initiatives organized by the Education in Forest Science Task Force of the International Union of Forest Research Organization (IUFRO), which were held in Poland (2012) and Turkey (2013). He is a communication volunteer, as a transcriber for the ForestsClimateChange.org, the CIFOR online information hub. He is a member of the Community Development team of the Erasmus Mundus Association (EMA) and has doubled as a reporter for the EMA on international events.
Ronnie de Camino
Ronnie de Camino is Director of the Latin American Chair of Forest Landscape Management of CATIE and President of the Board of the Iberoamerican Model Forests Network. He was also Deputy Director General in CATIE. He participated in the process for the creation of CIFOR and was one of the members of the founding Board of Trustees of the Center. Prior to this, he was Professor at the United Nations mandated University for Peace and officer of a GTZ project in IICA. He is a forest engineer and economist and has worked in education and research in forest management, policy and governance of natural resources.
Doris Capistrano
Doris Capistrano is Senior Advisor of the SDC-supported ASEAN-Swiss Partnership on Social Forestry and Climate Change (ASFCC) and Senior Fellow of the Southeast Asia Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture (SEARCA). She was Director of Forests and Governance of the Centre for International Forestry Research (CIFOR) and Visiting Professor in Forest and Conservation Policy of Wageningen University. She served as Ford Foundation’s Deputy Representative for India, Nepal, and Sri Lanka and Program Officer for Rural Poverty, Resources and Environment in Bangladesh. She previously taught Economics at the University of the Philippines at Los Banos.
Mirna Cunningham Kain
Mirna Cunningham Kain is an Indigenous Miskita woman from the community of Waspam, located on the banks of the Wangki River in Nicaragua. After studying as a Primary Education Teacher, she went back to Waspam to work as a teacher. She left her community once again to study medicine and surgery at the Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Nicaragua, becoming the first female Miskita doctor. As Governor she played an important role in the consultation process on the autonomy of the multi-ethnic region and the negotiation of peace agreements that resulted in the approval of the Law of Autonomy of the Indigenous Peoples and Ethnic Communities from the Atlantic Coast of Nicaragua (1987) and the establishment of the first autonomous regional governments.
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The Pan American Health Organization recognized her work by naming her “Hero of Health in the Americas” in 2001. She has been an activist for the rights of Indigenous Women in diverse areas in Nicaragua, as well as on continental and global levels. Ms. Cunningham Kain is President of the Center for Autonomy and Development of Indigenous Peoples (CADPI), which is an organization working in areas of intercultural communication, cultural revitalization, Indigenous women’s Rights and climate change and its impact on Indigenous communities.
In September 2010, Ms. Cunningham Kain was awarded with an Honorary Doctorate by the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), thereby becoming the first Indigenous woman to receive such recognition from the UNAM. Dr. Mirna Cunningham was named Chair of the UN Permanent Forum of Indigenous Issues for the period 2011-2013.
Colin Dyer
Colin Dyer is Director of the Institute for Commercial Forestry Research, a private sector research institute in association with the University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg. He obtained a PhD in Plant Systematics from the University of the Witwatersrand in South Africa in 1991. He has worked as a researcher and research manager in agriculture and forestry for 35 years, at the South African Forestry Research Institute, the CSIR and at the ICFR. He serves on the boards of several forestry research and science organisations in South Africa and is the South African representative on IUFRO’s International Council. He is also the Chair of the South African Sirex Control Programme. He is the chair of the technical sub-committee of the Local Organising Committee for the XIV World Forestry Congress.
M. Hosny El-Lakany
M. Hosny El-Lakany holds a B.Sc. in Agriculture and M.Sc. in Forestry from Alexandria University, Egypt, a Ph.D. in Forestry from the University of British Columbia, Canada and a D.Sc. honoris causafrom Laval University, Quebec, Canada. He is Professor Emeritus at Alexandria University, Egypt and Adjunct Professor and Director of the International Forestry Program at the Faculty of Forestry, University of British Columbia, Canada. He chairs the International Partnership on Forestry Education (IPFE) and lectures; supervises research and consults on international forest policies and natural resource management. He is the founder and president of the International Forest Policy Consulting (IFPC) based in Vancouver, Canada.
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He began his professional career as an instructor in agriculture, then in forestry at Alexandria University, Egypt. He studied and did research in forest genetics and tree breeding in Canada and became Professor of Forestry and subsequently Chairman of the Forestry Department at Alexandria University, then served as Professor and Director of the Centre for Integrated Desert Development of the American University in Cairo. He was a visiting fellow at the Australian National University, member of the committee to introduce forestry into the CGIAR, which eventually led to the establishment of CIFOR; and a member of the CGIAR Technical Advisory Committee.
In 1995, Dr. El-Lakany joined FAO as Assistant Directeur de Cabinet and in 1998 he was appointed Assistant Director-General of FAO/Head of the Forestry Department until his retirement in December 2005. Part of his responsibilities as ADG, was to advise the FAO Director-General on policy and political matters related to forestry and sustainable development. He was the inaugural Chair of the Collaborative Partnership on Forests (CPF) comprised of 14 international organizations in support of the United Nations Forum on Forests.
Dr. El-Lakany is a member of several international scientific and professional organizations including the Boards of Trustees of CIFOR (Chairman, since Jan 2011) and ICRAF, the Canadian Institute of Forestry, the Executive Board of the Commonwealth Forestry Association, the External Advisory Group on the Forest Strategy of the World Bank (2003-2009), and the Editorial Board of the International Journal of Food and Nutrition. He has published more than 110 scientific papers and co-edited one book.
Godwin Kowero
Godwin Kowero, a Tanzanian citizen, is the Executive Secretary of the African Forest Forum (AFF), a pan-African forestry institution based in Nairobi, Kenya. He has considerable experience in academia, research, management and administration as related to forestry, both in and outside Africa. In this regard he was a Professor of Forest Economics in several universities in Tanzania, Mozambique and Kenya. He also has considerable exposure to research, having worked for ten years with the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR), as a Senior Scientist and Regional Coordinator for its Eastern and Southern Africa office.
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He has worked on many issues in his areas of speciality, mainly forest economics and policy analysis, as well as forest management and administration, in all major forest types in Africa: the rain forests, woodlands and savannas; as well as in the administration of forestry related institutions. He has a Ph.D. in forest economics and policy analysis, as well as an Honorary Doctorate from the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences. He has over 70 peer reviewed publications, including chapters in books, and books.
Sunita Narain
Sunita Narain has been with the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) since 1982. She is currently the director general of the Centre and the director of the Society for Environmental Communications and publisher of the fortnightly magazine, Down To Earth. She is a writer and environmentalist, who uses knowledge for change. In 2005 she was awarded the Padma Shri by the Indian government.
She has also received the World Water Prize for work on rainwater harvesting and for its policy influence in building paradigms for community based water management. In 2005, she also chaired the Tiger Task Force at the direction of the Prime Minister, to evolve an action plan for conservation in the country after the loss of tigers in Sariska. She advocated solutions to build a coexistence agenda with local communities so that benefits of conservation could be shared and the future secured. She is a member of the Prime Minister’s Council for Climate Change as well as the National Ganga River Basin Authority, chaired by the Prime Minister, set up to implement strategies for cleaning the river.
Michael Peter
Michael Peter is the Executive Director of Forestry South Africa which is the industry association representing over 94% of commercial timber grown in South Africa. He has 24 years of experience in the forestry sector in South Africa in the technical, financial, social and environmental management aspects of natural forests, woodlands, fynbos, grasslands and commercial timber plantations. He holds a National Higher Diploma in Forestry from the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University’s, Saasveld School of Forestry and a Masters in Business Administration from the University of Pretoria’s, Gordon Institute of Business Science.
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He has extensive experience in policy, strategy and standards development for forest management, having spent many years working for the then department of Water Affairs and Forestry, where he also managed the forestry technical and information service. He led the Southern Cape forests to achieve FSC certification in 2002, which was a first for natural forests in Africa and since joining the private sector six years ago, has remained very involved in certification issues in South Africa and internationally.
He served on the FAO Core Group for the development of the Planted Forests Code and served as the private sector representative on the FAO’s National Forests Programme steering committee. He represents South Africa on the FAO’s Advisory Committee on Sustainable Forest-based Industries, which committee he currently chairs. He is deeply committed to seeing South Africa develop in ways which meaningfully address socio-economic issues in his country and produce a more cohesive national identity.
Moshibudi Rampedi
Moshibudi Rampedi has been the Counsellor, Agricultural Affairs at the South African Embassy in Rome since 2012. She is the Deputy Permanent Representative of South Africa to the Food and Agriculture Organization, International Fund for Agricultural Development and the World Food Programme. She has worked for the government of the Republic of South Africa for the last 30 years in education, environment, forestry and agriculture. From 1997 to date she has represented South Africa internationally in various fora including CITES, UNCCD, WHC, UNFF and UNFCCC.
Tomas Schlichter
Tomas Schlichter is Coordinator of the National Forestry Research Program at the National Institute for Agricultural Technology (INTA), Argentina, since 1993. The Program carries out research in forest ecology, ecophysiology, genetic improvement, forest management and silviculture, covering all the forest regions of the country. The program has about 150 forest science research specialists, with additional support from many laboratories such as biotechnology, soils, GIS and others. Previously, he coordinated a regional project in Central America, dealing with the sustainable management of native forests.
In 1980 he obtained his PhD degree in Forest Sciences at the Georg- August University, Goettingen, Germany. Dr Schlichter has published more than 50 scientific papers. He has also directed 9 PhD and 3 Master theses. In 2009 he presided over the Technical Scientific Committee of the XIII WFC, which took place in Buenos Aires.
Cyriaque Nikuze Sendashonga
Cyriaque Nikuze Sendashonga - more commonly known as Cyrie Sendashonga - is a dual Rwandan/Canadian citizen, with a PhD in Zoology from the Free University of Brussels. She joined IUCN in September 2010 as Global Director, Policy and Programme Group. Before coming to IUCN, she was with the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR) between January 2006 and July 2010 as Regional Coordinator for CIFOR Central Africa Regional Office, based in Yaounde, Cameroon. From 1999 to 2005, Cyrie was with the Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) in Montreal, Canada, where she was Head of the Biosafety Programme in charge of matters related to the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety.
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Prior to joining CBD Secretariat, she was with the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) in Nairobi, Kenya, from 1991 to 1998 where she worked on biodiversity-related issues including as Senior Programme Officer focal point for biodiversity in the UNEP-GEF Coordination between 1995 and 1998. Before her years at UNEP, she was a research fellow at the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI - one of the Centers of the Consortium on International Agricultural Research, formerly known as the CGIAR), also based in Nairobi, where she started her professional career in 1979. The science-policy interface has been the red thread in Cyrie’s career so far.
Gerald Steindlegger
Gerald Steindlegger is founder and leader of Steindlegger ISS – Integrated Sustainability Solutions based in Austria. He recently started his consultancy providing advice to the private and public sector as well as to NGOs. His main strategic approach is the integration of strategies and solutions for various sectors such as forestry, agriculture, climate change, energy and biodiversity and bringing together stakeholders to one common good: Sustainable Development.
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He was CEO at WWF Austria and has previously served as a Policy Director for the Forest and Climate Change Programme at WWF International, leading on forest, climate change and biodiversity policy processes including the UNFCCC, UNCBD and UNFF. As supervisor of a poverty reduction project carried out in Zambia, Lao PDR, Bhutan, Ecuador and Peru he contributed to the sustainable development of local communities through improved natural resource management. Gerald was member of various boards and committees, including the Steering Group of the High Conservation Value (HCV) Resource Network, the FSC Forest Carbon Working Group, the Advisory Board of the M.Sc. Programme on Management of Protected Areas, the Advisory Board to the XIIIth World Forestry Congress and was IUFRO observer. He has been working for more than 20 years on policy processes and the management of natural resources with a focus on forests and related cross-sectoral areas. His career path led him to more than 45 countries around the globe. He holds a M.Sc. in Forestry from the University of Natural Resources and Applied Life Sciences (BOKU) in Vienna and took part in a Leadership Training at the IMD Business School in Lausanne.
Mmaphaka Ephraim Tau
Mmaphaka Ephraim Tau is currently the Acting Deputy Director General for the Branch: Forestry and Natural Resources Management (FNRM) within the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (DAFF) where he is formally appointed as the Chief Director responsible for Natural Resources Management (NRM). His career spans from 1998 when he was appointed as an Assistant Planner in the then Department of Land Affairs (DLA) in the North West Province (based in Mafikeng). His responsibility was Land Tenure Reform and Land Administration. He grew through the ranks within the same department until he joined its office in the Free State Province as Assistant Director responsible for Policy and Planning Coordination in 2001.
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In December 2001, Tau joined the then Department of Water Affairs and Forestry (DWAF) as an Assistant Director responsible for Forest Land Management following the restructuring of state forest administration function. He served in that capacity until he was appointed Deputy Director responsible for the National Veld and Forest Fires Act 1998 in 2005 until mid-2008. In May 2008, he joined the National Disaster Management Centre (NDMC), within the Department of Cooperative Governance (DCOG), as a Director responsible for Capacity Building and Research. He served in this responsibility until March 2014.
It was on the 1st April 2014 when he joined the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (DAFF) as Chief Director responsible for Natural Resources Management (NRM), which he performs concurrently with his acting responsibility as Deputy Director-General: Forestry and Natural Resources Management.
Tint Lwin Thaung
Tint Lwin Thaung is an Executive Director of the Centre for People and Forests also known as RECOFTC (Regional Community Forestry Training Centre for Asia and the Pacific). Mr Thaung received Bachelor of Science in Forestry from Rangoon University, Myanmar; Master of Science in Natural Resources Development and Management from Asian Institute of Technology, Bangkok, Thailand and Doctor of Philosophy from the University of Queensland, Australia
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Mr Thaung has started his professional career in forestry as an officer of the National Park Service in Myanmar in late 1985. He also served as a revenue and measuring team leader at Thai-Myanmar Border logging concession management based in Thailand in 1989. He was the first Country Program Coordinator who started the Wildlife Conservation Society-Myanmar program in 1993. After completing a PhD, he worked closely with local communities in Papua New Guinea to help them promote conservation-friendly cocoa through the fairtrade market. Dr Thaung coordinated the Nature Conservancy’s forest conservation programs in Indonesia, China, Thailand, and Mekong countries. He was also an advisor of TNC’s Responsible Asia Forestry and Trade project funded by USAID providing technical advice to the team and worked with many partners in promoting their institutional capacities in forest management and trade. He is concerned about fair benefits to local people and disadvantaged communities and youth in participating forest resources management in Asia-Pacific region. Through over 28 years of working experience, he has extensive networks with national governments, academic institutions, civil society organizations, private sector and the most notably with local communities.
Xiao Wangxin
Xiao Wangxin is working with the Department of International Cooperation, State Forestry Administration of China (SFA). She is responsible for cooperation with forest-related intergovernmental organizations, negotiation and coordination of forest-related MEAs and multilateral processes. She had years of experience in non-governmental forestry cooperation and management of international forestry projects implemented in China. She was desk officer of SFA for cooperation with international NGOs engaged in nature conservation.
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She was a member of the Chinese delegation to sessions of UNFF, ITTC, COFO, INBAR, APEC, REDD+ Partnership and COPs of RAMSAR, CITES and UNCCD etc. She served as Chair of the Drafting Committee of the 20th Session of COFO of FAO in 2010. She had been involved in organizing various international conferences and events conducted in China, including 2nd Asia-Pacific Forestry Week and 24th Session of APFC in Beijing in 2011. She graduated in English from Beijing Foreign Studies University, obtained a M.E. from University of Economic and Foreign Trade of China and received training in natural resource management and forestry in North Carolina State University, USA.
Michael (Mike) Wingfield
Michael (Mike) Wingfield, Ph.D. in Plant Pathology, University of Minnesota (1983), Harvard Business School AMP175, has conducted research on tree pests and pathogens especially concerning their global movement for more than thirty years. Amongst his most important contributions to forestry has been the role that he has played as an advisor to more than 60 Ph.D. students, many of whom now hold very senior positions globally. He was responsible for establishing the Tree Protection Co-operative Programme (TPCP) in 1990, which became the catalyst for the establishment in 1998 of the Forestry and Agricultural Biotechnology Institute (FABI; www.fabinet.up.ac.za) of which he was the founding director.
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He has published widely on the topic of tree health in more than 700 research papers, seven books and in numerous invited presentations globally. He serves/ has served in many prestigous positions and based on his research, has received numerous awards and honours, in South Africa and elsewhere in the world, most recently the highest honour to an African Scientist, the Kwame Nkurumah Scientific Award from the African Union in 2013. He has been elected as a Fellow of scientific societies including the Royal Society of South Africa, Academy of Sciences of South Africa, the Southern African Society for Plant Pathology and the American Phytopathological Society. Honorary Doctor of Sciences degrees have been awarded to him by the University of British Colombia, (Canada) in 2012 and by North Carolina State University (USA) in 2013. Mike has been actively involved in the activities of IUFRO for more than 30 years, currently serving as Vice President responsible for the Divisions and he will assume the role of IUFRO President in October 2014.