MEDIA ADVISORY
Dr. Vincent Gitz appointed Director of the CGIAR Research Program on Forests, Trees and Agroforestry
13 September 2016 – CIFOR Director General Peter Holmgren today announced the appointment of Dr. Vincent Gitz as the new Director of the CGIAR Research Program on Forests, Trees and Agroforestry (FTA). Dr. Gitz replaces Dr. Robert Nasi, who will now shift his focus to his role as Deputy Director General in charge of research at the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR). FTA and CIFOR are both part of CGIAR, the Consortium of International Agricultural Research Centers.
Dr. Gitz brings to FTA a strong intellectual and scientific leadership, underpinned by 20 years of experience in research, policy-making and policy advice at the highest levels. A French national, Dr. Gitz joins FTA from the French Ministry of Agriculture, Agrifood and Forestry, where he served as Assistant Director for Food Policy. Prior to this, he served in senior positions at the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) from 2009-2016, including as Coordinator of the Sustainable Food Systems Programme, and Coordinator of the High Level Panel of Experts on Food Security and Nutrition (HLPE) of the Committee on World Food Security (CFS). From 2007 to 2009, Dr. Gitz served as advisor on Sustainable Development and Research to the French Minister for Agriculture and Fisheries, Michel Barnier. Dr Gitz has enjoyed a distinguished academic career and has an outstanding record of fundraising with the French Agricultural Research Centre for International Development (CIRAD) and the HLPE.
“The strong, collective and innovative effort of the CGIAR Program on Forests, Trees and Agroforestry is central to addressing the global challenges of our times and to achieve the ambitions of the SDGs and the Paris Agreement,” said Dr. Gitz.
“I am particularly happy to join the FTA, known to deliver results on the ground and centrally positioned to fuel the international development agenda. Since the beginning of my career, I have used results from research stemming from the six FTA centers, and I am thrilled to join a partnership led by CIFOR today, at a challenging and exciting moment.”
Read the FTA Annual Report 2015.
As a scientist, Dr. Gitz has led interdisciplinary research teams in work on integrated assessment of scenarios and policies of economic development and climate change mitigation and adaptation. In his own work, he has conducted research on climate change policies, land use and forestry, and on related international negotiations, and the development of specialized models and tools for policy advice and decision-making. He has also carried out pioneering work on integrated models coupling economics and physical sciences to inform development strategies to tackle climate change. In Brazil, Dr. Gitz developed technical and macro-economic foresight models (IMACLIM-R) in partnership with the Energy Planning Program at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Dr. Gitz, an alumnus of the Ecole Polytechnique, holds a PhD in environmental sciences and an M.S. in Environmental and Natural Resources Economics. He was awarded the Chevalier du Mérite Agricole (France) by Michel Barnier in 2009.
Dr. Peter Holmgren congratulated Dr. Gitz on his new assignment, thanking Dr. Nasi for his successful leadership of FTA since its launch in 2011. In 2015, the six centers working under the FTA umbrella produced 600 publications, generating 45,000 downloads, trained 50,000 people on subjects ranging from calculation of reference Emission Levels to plant breeding on forest genetic resources.
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The CGIAR Research Program on Forests, Trees and Agroforestry (FTA) aims to enhance the management and use of forests, agroforestry and tree genetic resources across the landscape from forests to farms. CIFOR leads FTA in partnership with Bioversity International, the Tropical Agricultural Research and Higher Education Center (CATIE), the Agricultural Research Centre for International Development (CIRAD), the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT) and the World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF). FTA responds to the urgent need for a strong and sustained research focus on forest management and governance, given the crucial role of forests in confronting some of the most important challenges of our time: climate change, poverty, and food insecurity. Impact-driven and innovative, FTA seeks to enhance the management and use of forests, agroforestry and tree genetic resources across the landscape.
Contact: Shelley Thakral, s.thakral@cgiar.org