Meet the Technical Advisors of the AFD-GDN Biodiversity Awards Program.
Luciano Andriamaro
Director, Science and Knowledge Department at Conservation International
Luciano is a biologist by training, a PhD in Biology and Animal Conservation, with a speciality in Freshwater Biodiversity and largely works in the field. She is among the top wetlands and freshwater experts, solicited in the various working groups and platform requiring this proficiency. For several years, she has overseen activities related to biodiversity and its conservation across different approaches, from research and study, to the recovery and well-being of the surrounding people that protect biodiversity.
Project followed: Mainstreaming Soil Biodiversity as a Nature-based Solution to Innovate Fish Farming System: Valorization of Native Species of Earthworms, by Malalatiana Razafindrakoto (Madagascar).
Thomas Elmqvist
Professor in Natural Resource Management at Stockholm Resilience Centre, Stockholm University
Thomas’s research is focused on ecosystem services, land use change, urbanization, natural disturbances and components of resilience, including the role of social institutions. He serves as Associated Editor for the journals, Ecology and Society, Conservation and Society, Ecosystem Services, and Sustainability Science. He has led the Cities and Biodiversity project, currently leading the Future Earth project, ‘What is Urban’ and is part of the scoping expert group on regional and sub-regional assessments for IPBES. In 2018, he was awarded the BiodivERsA Prize for Excellence and Impact. BiodivERsA is a network of national and regional funding organisations promoting pan-European research on biodiversity and ecosystem services. He is also a member of the board of directors for Mistra Urban Futures.
Project followed: Assessing the Role of Different Types of Knowledge for Mainstreaming Biodiversity Conservation in Ramsar Sites in Fiji and Ghana, by Lavenie Tawake (Fiji) and Margaret Fafa (Ghana).
Anja Gassner
Science and Policy Advisor, Global Landscapes Forum, Bonn, Germany
Anja has more than 25 years of experience in rural development projects in Africa, Asia and Latin America, working at the interface of livelihood development and sustainable resource management. She joined World Agroforestry in 2010, as the Head of the Research Methods Unit and led the Sentinel Landscape Initiative (2012–2016), coordinating 10 teams across eight landscapes that provided evidence of the importance of forests and trees for livelihoods of rural communities. Since 2017, she has been leading ICRAF’s policy work on integrating trees-on-farms’ targets into national biodiversity policy reform and financing. Anja has a PhD in Agroecology from the University of Braunschweig, Germany and a Masters in Environmental Geochemistry from the University of Cape Town, South Africa.
Project followed: Agroecology for Biodiversity Conservation and Welfare in Africa and Asia: A Comparative RCTs Study on Indigenous Earthworms Utilization, by Malalatiana Razafindrakoto (Madagascar) and Nam Hoang Vu (Vietnam).
Elena Lazos Chavero
Professor-Researcher, Instituto de investigaciones sociales UNAM (IISUNAM), Mexico
Elena has a degree in Biology from UNAM and an MA in Social Anthropology from ENAH. She did her PhD in Anthropology and Socio-economics of Development at École des hautes études en sciences sociales (EHESS), Paris. Her lines of research are political ecology around the conservation of agrodiversity and food sovereignty, perceptions and impacts on transgenic corn, gender and rural development, vulnerability to climate change, and culture and power around the conservation of natural resources. She has coordinated 23 research projects on socio-environmental and territorial dynamics around agrodiversity and biodiversity. She is a member of the National System of Researchers (III) and has been awarded the (PRIDE D).
Project followed: Mainstreaming Biodiversity in Vegetable Farming in Vietnam through Promoting Adoption of Low Chemical Pesticide Practices: A Discrete Choice Experiment Approach, by Nam Hoang Vu (Vietnam).
Annukka Lehikoinen
Research Director, Kotka Maritime Research Centre, Finland
Annukka is an environmental scientist with an M.Sc. in Limnology and Fisheries Science and a PhD in Aquatic Sciences. Her main responsibilities as Research Director include advancing cross-disciplinary research for sustainable maritime traffic, marine spatial planning, marine ecosystem services, and related policy-making. Annukka is an advocate of interdisciplinary and sectoral dialogue and knowledge co-production and specializes in probabilistic risk and decision analysis, and applies Bayesian methods. She is interested in environmental status assessments, management questions, and sustainable use of natural resources.
Project followed: Evaluation and Review of the Environmental Impact Assessment Guidelines for Fiji by Lavenie Tawake (Fiji).
Jorge Lozano
Professor of Ecology, Ecology Teaching Unit, Department of Biodiversity, Ecology and Evolution of the Complutense, University of Madrid
Jorge has experience in environmental advisory and consulting on fauna and flora inventories, environmental impact assessment studies, evaluation of power lines, ecological restoration, conservation projects, game management, vertebrate census, species detection and abundance/density measurement, and monitoring of biodiversity in relation to global change. He has written for over 90 publications, including several books on carnivores and the first description of the Important Areas for Mammals in Spain (ZIM), in collaboration with the Spanish Society for the Conservation and Study of Mammals (SECEM). He has more than 900 teaching hours at universities in Spain and abroad under his belt, in addition to raising environmental awareness through radio and television.
Project followed: Conservation of Large Carnivores in the Omo Valley, Southwest Ethiopia, by Tsyon Asfaw (Ethiopia).
Suneetha M. Subramanian
Visiting Fellow, United Nations University and the Institute for Global Environmental Strategies, Japan
Suneetha has more than 15 years of experience in international and sub-national research and capacity building activities relating to biodiversity and human well-being. This, with a specific focus on equity, traditional knowledge, linking policy goals to local priorities and community well-being, assessment of changes to ecosystems and human wellbeing, socio-ecological resilience, and joint implementation of policies and actions on health and biodiversity, at the community level. She has been involved in various regional, global and currently value assessments of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES), as Lead/Co-ordinating Lead Author and is on the Editorial board of the Sustainability Science Journal and the Journal of Ecosystems and People.
Project followed: Assessment of Ecosystem-Based Livelihoods on Biodiversity of the Keta Lagoon Complex Ramsar Site (KLCRS) in Ghana, by Margaret Fafa Aweshie Akwetey (Ghana).
Girma Kelboro
Senior Researcher, Center for Development Research, Bonn, Germany
Girma has extensive experience in research on biodiversity, nature conservation governance, land use transitions, smallholder farmers' food security, institutional change and forestry, and rural-urban interfaces. He has also worked as a lecturer at the Wondo Genet College of Forestry and Natural Resources in Ethiopia, where he taught courses on community/social forestry, forest and natural resource management, indigenous knowledge, and conflict management. Girma has authored numerous publications on natural resource management and environmental policies and strategies.
Project followed: Conservation of Large Carnivores in the Omo Valley, Southwest Ethiopia, by Tsyon Asfaw (Ethiopia).
