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.

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.

Luca Cazzato was born in the French-speaking part of Switzerland to Italian parents. He is currently pursuing a master’s degree in specialized translation at the University of Geneva, where he previously obtained a bachelor’s degree in multilingual communication. He has moreover completed part of his studies at universities in England and Italy as part of the Erasmus exchange programme. Luca's interests include learning about various cultures and using language as an effective communication tool to share knowledge across diverse communities. He speaks French, Italian and English fluently, and has a basic knowledge of Spanish, Portuguese, German, Albanian, and Arabic. He supports the team with implementation of the FLRM Knowledge and information activities.

Dmytro Daniuk, born in Ukraine and raised in Spain, holds a Master's degree in Professional Translation from the University of Granada, and is finishing a Bachelor's degree in Environmental Sciences. He is interested in learning about languages, cultures, literature as well as environmental activism. In the FLRM team, he is an intern working in Spanish Knowledge Products. He is fluent in Spanish, Ukrainian, English, French, Portuguese, and Catalan, and is looking forward to learning some Italian, too.

Irene De Angeli is from Viterbo, Italy, and holds a Master’s degree in Global Security Policies: Environment, Energy, and Conflicts from Roma Tre University, and a Bachelor’s degree in Political, Social, and International Sciences from the University of Bologna. Her interests focus on sustainability, climate policy, and international cooperation. She has experience in political communication as a Press Officer for Europa Verde, where she also coordinated a national election campaign in 2022. More recently, she worked as a financial consultant at L4V – Looking for Value, supporting public and third-sector organizations. She is an intern to support our communications and outreach efforts for the Silva Mediterranea secretariat with FAO.

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.

Indigo Pinedo is a United States national from Phoenix, Arizona. Indigo is passionate about supporting underrepresented groups in food systems governance. Holds a diverse background in creative writing, entrepreneurship, pastry arts and nonprofit communications. Currently completing an MA in Food Studies at the American University of Rome, with a specialization at the intersection of writing, graphic design and digital communications strategy. Recently joined the FLRM team to support communication and outreach activities.

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.

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.

Hyeyoung Kang has over 20 years of experience with the Korea Forest Service (KFS) and holds a Master’s degree in Environmental Economics and Management. She previously served as Head of the Forest Restoration Division and coordinated ODA projects in the International Cooperation Bureau. Since her secondment to FAO in August 2025, she has been supporting the planning and implementation of the Forest and Landscape Restoration Mechanism (FLRM), contributing to the launch of its third phase.

Lucía Rivera Lima is an anthropologist and sociologist and holds a master’s degree in development studies from the University of Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne. She has worked with international organizations such as Slow Food, IFAD, ILO, and FAO. Specializing in cultural and socioeconomic dimensions of food systems -particularly of forestry and coffee- Lucia has worked extensively on youth employment and engagement as well as Indigenous Peoples’ rights. Currently, she works at the Forest and Landscape Restoration Mechanism (FLRM) and the Silva Mediterranea secretariat of FAO.

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.

Anastasiia Mazneva is an expert in natural resources management and biodiversity conservation. She worked as a Climate Change Adaptation and Biodiversity Conservation Projects Coordinator with the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) team in Central Asia for almost 4 years and was a Small-Grants Manager at the Critical Ecosystems Partnership Fund (CEPF) project in the Mountains of Central Asia biodiversity hotspot in 2023 – 2025. Within the CEPF initiative Anastasiia helped more than 50 non-governmental and civil society organizations in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, and Tajikistan in implementation of grants on forest and ecosystem restoration. She holds a MSc in Soil Science from the Lomonosov Moscow State University and a MSc in Nature Conservation from the Czech University of Life Sciences.

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.

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.

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.

Bianca Sipala is a Forest and Landscape Restoration – Carbon Markets Specialist, holding a Master’s degree in Forestry Engineering from the University of Tuscia and a Master’s degree in Climate Change and Development from SOAS University of London. She worked for over two years at FAO Mozambique as the coordinator of the agroforestry and carbon markets component of two projects, where she led numerous field missions to support technical implementation. Bianca began working in forest and natural resources management, biodiversity conservation, and climate change in 2019, when she first joined FAO Headquarters as an intern. She speaks English, Spanish, Portuguese, and Italian fluently, and is currently studying French.