Robert Nasi appointed Director of new CGIAR consortium research program
Dr Robert Nasi, Director for the Forests and Environment Program at the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR), has been selected to be head of a new CGIAR consortium research program, Forests, Trees and Agro forestry: Livelihoods, Landscapes and Governance. The program, foreseen to be carried out over the next decade, is designed to meet the challenge for strategic, targeted and more collaborative research to support better management and governance of the world’s dwindling forests.
Dr Nasi has over 25 years of research experience in over 50 countries in tropical resource management. His appointment has been endorsed by all CGIAR centers involved in the program, namely CIFOR, the World Agroforestry Centre, International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT) and Bioversity International. His tenure, which started on 1 August 2011, marks another step in the CGIAR transformation towards the creation of a consortium of new strategic, results-based research programs.
“We are highly pleased with the appointment of Dr Robert Nasi. Robert is known to many of us from his previous work at CIRAD and CIFOR, and has been in the action since the start of this new research collaboration. We have strong belief that with Nasi’s experience, he can make this a vibrant and model research program which will generate real impact”, said Tony Simons, Director General Designate, World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF).
The new research program brings together four leading research centers and several partner institutions to use data, resources and experience toward a clear objective: enhancing the management and use of forests, agro forestry and tree genetic resources across the landscape from forests to farms. The program hopes to demonstrate policy impact in five key areas which include the management and conservation of forests, climate change mitigation and adaption, and the impact of trade and development of forests.
The effort is one of 15 programs to be announced and funded by the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR). The CGIAR is a global partnership that brings together scientific organizations with funders of research on sustainable development. Supporting the work of 15 international agricultural research centers, which collaborate closely with hundreds of government and civil society organizations as well as private businesses around the world, the CGIAR aims to produce high-quality international agricultural research.
Dr Nasi has had extensive experiences with the CGIAR since he joined CIFOR in 1999. As Director for the Forests and Environment Program, he oversaw a project portfolio worth more than US$20 million with a team of 35 professionals working in several countries across the world. He has made an extensive contribution to scientific literature, having published over 70 journal articles and contributed to 30 books on various themes related to the sustainable use and management of forest resources.
Born in Nice, Dr Nasi 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. He has been undertaking research activities in the fields of ecology and management of tropical forests since 1982 and spent several years living and travelling extensively in Africa, Asia and the Pacific.
