Dr. Eliane Ubalijoro has been appointed as the Chief Executive Officer of CIFOR-ICRAF and Director General of ICRAF by the Board of Trustees of the Center for International Forestry Research and World Agroforestry (CIFOR-ICRAF).
In the 52-year history of the organization, Dr. Ubalijoro will be the first African woman to hold the positions of CEO of two CGIAR Centers and Director General of a CGIAR Research Center.
Dr. Ubalijoro, a Rwandan native, is a professor of practice for public-private partnerships at McGill University's Institute for the Study of International Development and the executive director of Sustainability in the Digital Age.
Over the past 20 years, her research has concentrated on innovation, gender, and sustainable development.
Dr. Ubalijoro claims that CIFOR-ICRAF is an important organization that is well-positioned to increase its research and effect, opening the path to the 2030 goals by utilizing the potential of forestry and agroforestry to develop ecosystems that sustainably provide wealth.
She is drawn to projects that combine the expertise of CIFOR-wealth ICRAF in forestry, ecology, and sustainable agriculture with the transparency that high-resolution satellite data and artificial intelligence can provide to boost biodiversity globally and ensure transparency in terms of carbon sequestration.
"I envision CIFOR-ICRAF as a crucial institution, set to increase its research and effect," said Ubalijoro. "By leveraging the potential of forestry and agroforestry to develop ecosystems that produce prosperity, sustainably, we can achieve the 2030 targets."
Dr. Robert Nasi, who is now the interim CEO of ICRAF for CIFOR, will also be designated Chief Operating Officer along with Ubalijoro's appointment, which will start in May 2023.
Dr. Nasi is a well-known forestry expert who has spent the last 40 years researching tropical forest ecology and management, sustainable forest resource use, and the nexus between conservation and development.
Dr. Nasi claims that the appointment marks the beginning of a new age for CIFOR-ICRAF as it becomes more apparent how important trees and forests are in tackling the food, biodiversity, and climate challenges.
The new leadership team is prepared to lead CIFOR-ICRAF into an ambitious period of expansion to offer much-needed answers to some of the most pressing problems of our day, according to Dr. Nasi.
With Dr. Ubalijoro's extensive expertise in agricultural research, digital innovation, and transformational leadership combined with Dr. Nasi's in-depth knowledge of tropical forestry and exemplary success in leading both organizations through the merger, according to CIFOR-Board ICRAF's Chair, Doris Capistrano, CIFOR-ICRAF has never been better prepared than it is right now.
She remarked, "We anticipate the new heights CIFOR-ICRAF will achieve in addressing interrelated global concerns through the power of forests, trees, and agroforestry.
About utilizing the strength of trees, forests, and agroforestry landscapes to address today's most urgent global concerns, including biodiversity loss, climate change, food security, livelihoods, and inequality, CIFOR-ICRAF is the world leader.
In addition to more than 2,200 finished projects in 92 countries, it has collaborations in 64 countries, 159 financing partners, and 192 current initiatives. The organization has a budget of USD 100 million per year and USD 2 billion in legacy investments in development, policy, and research.
The average number of citations for CIFOR-ICRAF research per day is about 137, and it is covered by the media more than 3,000 times annually.
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