Meet the FLRM team │ Forest and Landscape Restoration Mechanism FLRM │ FAO

Meet the FLRM Team

The Forest and Landscape Restoration Mechanism combines experience, motivation and competence in its group. The representatives of the group are international experts dedicated to the restoration of forests.

Christophe Besacier is a Senior Forestry Officer and currently coordinating the Forest and Landscape Restoration Mechanism (FLRM) at FAO, where he is providing technical assistance and implementing restoration projects in more than 20 countries. He mobilized resources to scale-up restoration reaching a 40 million USD portfolio with multiple key financial partners. He is involved in major international restoration initiatives such as the Bonn Challenge, the GPFLR and the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration. From 2009 to 2014 he was in charge of Silva Mediterranea. From 2000 to 2009, he worked as regional advisor for the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the Sahel and the Congo Basin regions.

Sangick Lee over the last 20 years has worked in the Korea Forest Service (KFS) while playing a crucial role in developing several forest policies and leading a wide range of projects mainly focused on ecological forest management and restoration. Prior to joining FAO, Sangick has been Director-General of the Forest Welfare Bureau, KFS, and has implemented several projects to increase the area of the urban forest and to enhance the public function of forests such as forest recreation and healing for human-wellbeing. Sangick holds a MSc in Forest Resources and in Climate Change and has recently completed a Ph.D. whose topic is economic analysis of forest restoration in the Republic of Korea.

Benjamin De Ridder is a natural resources management expert from Belgium with a Masters Degree in advanced studies of marine and lacustrine sciences. He supports the implementation of projects at country level and contributes to the dissemination of best practices at global TRI. He joined FAO in 2012 at the Regional Office for Africa contributing to the mainstreaming of climate change issues into development programmes and supported projects linked to National Adaptation Planning and uptake of a Climate Smart Agricultural Approach. Before FAO, he worked in South Africa, Maldives and Madagascar focusing on sustainable natural resource management and nature conservation.

Nelly Bourlion has been working in International Project Management for nine years. She worked as a Biodiversity and Forest Ecosystem Program Officer at Plan Bleu, a regional activity center of UNEP/MAP where she managed numerous projects in the Mediterranean, some in collaboration with FAO such as the publication of the second edition of the State of Mediterranean Forest 2018. She worked for the GEF performance evaluation team in Washington DC. She also has work experience around the world in Agricultural Economics. Nelly holds an Engineering degree in Agronomy and a MSc. in Economics.

Carolina Gallo Granizo is a Spanish national. She holds a degree in Forest Engineering from the Technical University of Madrid, Spain. She conducted research on watershed management at the Austral University of Chile and Technical University of Madrid. Carolina has field experience in Togo where she contributed to the design and establishment of an experimental plantation with native species. From 2013 to 2015, she worked for FAO Silva Mediterranea on the regional project funded by FFEM. Since then, Carolina has been working with the FLRM on Mediterranean related issues and supporting monitoring activities at global and country levels.

Valentina Garavaglia is expert on natural resources management. She has a PhD from the Earth, Environment and Biodiversity School and MSc in Analysis and Management of Natural Resources from the University of Milan. Valentina is currently working with the FAO Secretariat of Silva Mediterranea and in the last years she has been collaborating with many other teams of the FAO Forestry Department. She was the scientific secretary of Cost Action FP1202 on marginal/peripheral populations of forest trees (2012-2016) at the Forestry Research Center of Arezzo (Italy). Prior to that, she has worked as researcher at the University of Milan.

Caterina Marchetta is a communication and knowledge management specialist who has been working at FAO since 2009. Currently, she is working with the FLRM and the Development Law Service group. Previously, she worked for the Gender team in the FAO Regional Office for Near East and North Africa and Silva Mediterranea. Before FAO, she acquired relevant international experience working for the African Medical and Research Foundation NGO and the Mexican Embassy. She holds a Master's degree in International Development and a Master's degree in Marketing and Communications. She has recently completed a Social Media Strategy course at MIT and Sloan University.

Anna Ioannou is a rural developer and natural resource manager. She joined the FLRM-team in 2023 after having worked two years at FAO’s Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific. Before FAO, she worked with sustainable agriculture, forest foods and rural employment and research-policy-practice linkages at Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI), and with food security, natural resource management, monitoring and evaluations at the Swedish ODA-agency Sida. She has led and supported development projects and research in South and Southeast Asia, the Pacific, Eastern Africa, Argentina and Sweden. Anna holds a bachelor’s degree in political science and economics and an MSc in rural development and natural resource management.

Marco Pagliani is an agronomist with a long track record of work on environment and sustainable development, and joined the FLRM team in 2018 with the role of Chief Technical Advisor of the TRI project in Sao Tomé and Príncipe, Central Africa. Marco is based in Madrid, Spain, and worked for over 20 years at the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) developing and managing projects in Europe, Middle East, Asia, and the Mediterranean Basin. Since 2008 he works as an independent consultant for several international agencies on biodiversity conservation, natural resources management, climate change adaptation and forest and landscape restoration.

Lucía Rivera Lima holds a BA in anthropology and sociology and a Master’s degree in Development studies from the University of Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne. She is from Guatemala and has focused on socioeconomic dimensions of the rural and agricultural world, more precisely, on the interrelated challenges of child labour and youth employment and on Indigenous Peoples' rights. Lucía currently works with the Silva Mediterranea secretariat and FLRM team at FAO. Prior to this, she worked at the International Labour Organization as a consultant on youth employment, the International Fund for Agricultural Development in the East and Southern Africa Division, and Slow Food International with the Indigenous Peoples network.

Andrea Romero Montoya is a Colombian forest engineer with an MSc in Forest and Nature Conservation from Wageningen University, The Netherlands. As part of her master's, she conducted research in Brazil on fire ecology in a collaborative project with the University of Brasilia. From 2020, she joined FAO to support the work of the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration's Task Force on Best Practices, regarding knowledge dissemination and capacity development for ecosystem restoration at global level. Prior to that, she worked at the Botanical Garden of Bogotá, providing technical assistance to the Urban Forestry Office.

Cristiane Sater Melnik is a Forest Engineer from Brazil, she holds a MSc degree in Sustainable Forest and Nature Management from Bangor University, UK, and in Forest Ecosystems, Nature, and Society from the University of Copenhagen. She currently works supporting both FAO-led UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration Task Forces: Best Practices (FLRM team) and Monitoring (NFM team). She joined FAO in 2022 to contribute to the efforts of the Best Practices Task Force, focusing on operationalizing the framework for collection and dissemination of good restoration practices. Her previous experience includes work on certification initiatives, particularly in biodiversity conservation and responsible forest management.

Ayla Plaisimond is a national of Haiti with a university degree in Economics, tourism branch, from the University of Tuscia. She joined FAO in 2002, working for conference facilities. In 2017, she moved to the Protocol Division from the temporary assistance pool, assisting permanent representatives of FAO governing bodies. In 2019, she joined the Sustainable Food Systems Programme and the Office of Climate Change, Biodiversity and Environment, filling back office duties and administrative support. In 2021, she provided front office support to the Food Systems and Food Safety Division and the Project Support Division. Her mother tongues are French and Creole, and she is proficient in Italian, English and Spanish.

Anastasiya Shchukina, born and raised in Kenya to Ukrainian parents, holds a BSc in Environmental Science with a Minor in Political Science from Concordia University, Montreal. Her work spans ecosystem restoration, program development, and operations management, with a focus on sustainability and the Great Green Wall initiative. Currently supporting the AFR100 program at FAO, Anastasiya collaborates on tools like the "Restoration Explorer" and "Restoration Factory" to drive innovation in restoration and green jobs. She is fluent in English, French, Ukrainian, and Russian, and speaks basic Swahili.

Francesca Ferraro is an American national from Los Angeles, California. She is a media studies enthusiast dedicated to exploring the intersection of technology and storytelling. She obtained her bachelor’s degree in film and digital media from the American University of Rome. Francesca has a background in social media management and film production. She specializes in international media relations, content creation and communications across diverse markets. She has recently joined the team as an intern to support with knowledge and outreach activities.

Young Kim is a Korean national. She holds a Bachelor's degree in Forestry and a Master's degree with a focus on the tissue culture technique of endangered plant species and commercially valuable plants. She is passionate about disseminating technology and knowledge to support environmental sustainability. In the FLRM team, she assists the Task Force on Best Practices for the United Nations Decade on Ecosystem Restoration. In particular, she supports knowledge exchange through the collection and dissemination of good practices for ecosystem restoration, as well as the implementation of the Capacity, Knowledge and Learning Action Plan for the Decade.

Satia Ras, from Indonesia, holds a bachelor's degree in forestry from the University of North Sumatera, where he authored three international papers on vegetation and medicinal plants. Active in conservation since his undergraduate years, he participated in a 2017 Young Southeast Asian Leaders Initiative (YSEALI) Academic Fellowship. Recently, Satia completed a master's in Mediterranean Forestry and Natural Resources Management at the University of Padova and the Catholic University of Portugal, focusing on forest land ownership fragmentation. He has also volunteered extensively in Europe and served as a Communication Coordinator for the Mediterranean Youth Task Force.

Stella Harper is a Swiss-American, born and raised in Berlin, Germany. She holds a Bachelor's degree in Environmental Science from ETH Zurich and is currently pursuing a Master's in Environmental Systems and Policy. Though rooted in the natural sciences, her academic interests focus on the relationships between humans and the environment, particularly forests. Stella has conducted research on the timber trade between the Solomon Islands and China, as well as carbon dioxide removal and carbon offsetting strategies in Switzerland. Her dedication to environmental challenges led her to join the FLRM team as an intern, where she works on the UN Decade Task Force on Best Practices.