Team
Paolo is a forester working on sustainable forest management of tropical production forests, forest certification, timber and wood energy value chains and timber trade. Now based in Nairobi, Kenya, he has been working with CIFOR in Yaoundé, Cameroon, from 2004 to 2012. Paolo holds a PhD in Environmental Governance from the Crawford School of Economics and Government/the Australian National University, and a Masters in Remote Sensing and Natural Resources Evaluation from Agronomic Institute for Overseas Countries (IAO)/Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Florence, Italy. Prior to joining CIFOR as a Junior Professional Officer of the United Nations in 2004, Paolo was a visiting scientist at the United States Geological Survey, and an assistant forest expert to the Coordinator of the Albanian National Forest Inventory
Silvia Ferrari is a wood technologist who has lived in the Democratic Republic of the Congo since 2013, leading projects concerning rural development and legal logging. Her work in the eastern region of the country was particularly focused on formalizing artisanal logging and promoting the transformation of local timber before export. Silvia Ferrari has a PhD in wood technology and has extensive experience in research and capacity building. She joined CIFOR in November 2017 as a scientific expert for the FORETS project related to the Yangambi Biosphere Reserve in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Hulda Hatakiwe joined CIFOR in October 2017 as a junior scientific expert. She holds her degree in Forestry Engineer from the Faculty of Renewal Natural Resource Management, Kisangani University in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Scientist, CIFOR
Christian Amani has just joined CIFOR as a scientist for the Forests and Climate Change in the Congo (FCCC) Project in the GOV Portfolio. He will work closely with Andrew Wardell and other FCCC team members. Christian obtained his postgraduate qualification (D.E.A.) from the University of Kinshasa in 2006 where he conducted research on ecology and diversity of plant communities from the bamboo forests in the Kahuzi-Biega National Park. He took part in the first data collection campaigns in the Itombwe forests (Albertine Rift, DRC) with the Wildlife Conservation Society, and a successful training in the Eastern Arc (East Usambaras, Tanzania) with the Tropical Biology Association. He obtained his PhD in 2011 from University of Brussels. His research focused on vegetation patterns and the role of edaphic heterogeneity on plant communities in semi-deciduous forests within the Congo Basin where he got important skills in tropical forest ecology, biogeochemistry and evolutionary biology. Christian is based in Goma (DRC) and can be contacted via email at c.amani@cgiar.org.
Neville is a junior scientific expert who joined the Forest Management and Restoration team in October 2017. He is a specialist in integrated watershed management, forest resource management and participatory approaches for sustaining and improving agriculture systems. His initial work with CIFOR’s Forest Management and Restoration team focused on improving the conservation and use of biodiversity and ecosystem services for the sustainable development of local populations. He has participated in studies of natural resources management and its impact on the livelihoods of local populations. He graduated from the Kenyatta University of Nairobi-Kenya, and holds the integrated watershed Management master certification. Neville hopes that his time at CIFOR will allow him to not only contribute but also learn.