Dr Robert Nasi is the Chief Operating Officer of CIFOR-ICRAF and has been the Director General of the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR) since 2017, steering the organisation’s successful three-year merger process with World Agroforestry (ICRAF) and leveraging their combined expertise to harness the power of trees, forests and agroforestry landscapes to address the most pressing global challenges of our time.

He has been part of the organisation for more than 20 years, joining CIFOR in 1999 and holding several research and management positions, including principal scientist, biodiversity program leader, and program director.

Dr Nasi is a leading global expert on forests, and advocates for integrating social and biological science for better forest management, more sustainable livelihoods, and improved forest policies.

Born in 1959 in Nice, France, Dr Nasi graduated as a forest engineer from the French National Forestry School and earned a doctorate in ecology from the University of Paris Sud–Orsay. Since 1982, he has lived and travelled extensively across Africa, Asia, and the Pacific, undertaking research in ecology and tropical forest management. Dr Nasi is based at CIFOR’s Headquarters in Bogor Indonesia.

His research interests include the sustainable use of forest products, and multiple-use tropical forest management. His main disciplines are ecology, botany, biometrics, tropical forest management, and silviculture. He has authored or co-authored more than 300 scientific publications.

Ali Macalady joined USAID/Peru in September 2022. Previously, she worked as a Senior Water Security Advisor in the Center for Water Security, Sanitation, and Hygiene at USAID/Washington, where she was technical lead on water resources management and applied research to support water and sanitation programming. Prior to joining USAID in 2017, Ali worked for over 15 years in science, climate, and natural resource management and policy. Highlights include a stint as a Program Officer at the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, where she managed studies on weather and climate, and two years as an journalist and radio reporter covering forests, water, public lands, and Indigenous People’s resource rights in the American West. Ali studied geology at Carleton College, holds a Master of Forestry from the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, and earned a Ph.D. in Geography and Global Change from the University of Arizona. She loves spending time with her spouse and three daughters, especially if it involves being outside hiking, gardening, biking or skiing.

His current role at USAID is to collaborate with all stakeholders to address climate change concerns in sustainable development across natural systems in order to improve livelihood and living standards where we work.

Dr. Emily Weeks, Senior Policy Advisor in the Bureau of Resilience and Food Security, USAID Washington/Global office. She provides leadership across the Agency in Climate,  Natural Resource Management, Land and Resource Governance, Resilience and Food Security. She has led several key efforts including the Natural Resource Management guidance for the US Government Global Food Security Strategy for Resilience, Climate and Natural Resource Management policy, The Agency guidance on Nature Based Solutions, and the Land and Resource Governance Joint statement. Emily is a co-chair on the Global Donor Working Group for land, USAID representative on the National Climate Assessment 5, committee member on the donor advisor group for Agro-Ecology and committee member on the FAO Fisheries panel. She has also been the agency lead for the IPPC review and in 2019 and  was part of the USG delegation for the IPCC.

She currently leads the Comprehensive Action for Climate Change Initiative (CACCI), a global initiative that supports local organizations to work with key stakeholders at country level to meet NDC and NAP commitments. Prior to joining USAID, she was the co-founder of the National Land Resource Centre, in New Zealand. She was also a program leader and managed over 20 themed collaborative research projects, as well assisted with the development of goals and strategic vision and provided access to key resources for the development and implementation of key policies across New Zealand.  She has conducted research for a range of projects in Oceania, Asia and Africa, including REDD+ Ethiopia, Sustainable Development of Protected Areas System of Ethiopia (SDPASE)  project for the UNDP, and land use planning and ecosystem services in South Africa. She has a PhD in conservation biology and an MSc in Marine Ecology.