Dr. Ravi Prabhu

Dr. Ravi Prabhu joined the World Agroforestry (ICRAF) as Deputy Director General (Research) in January 2012. As well as his responsibilities to oversee the whole research programme, he is also a member of the Center’s Senior Leadership Team. According to him, ICRAF is «a Centre where focused, rigorous research provides the evidence that guides the policies of decision makers from the household through to national and global levels – the kind of decisions that help to direct investments to their most useful purposes.» Ravi is an accomplished scientist in his own right: he has engaged in multi-disciplinary research and action in forested landscapes for almost 30 years. He was previously a Senior Programme Officer, Forests and Climate Change with the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) in Nairobi. He led the UNEP team that contributed to the UN-REDD Programme mainly by supporting countries to realize multiple benefits from REDD+, and to use REDD+ as a catalyst to transform to a green economy. Prior to that, he coordinated the Regional Plan for Collective Action in eastern and southern Africa, a joint initiative of CGIAR. He also worked in various capacities at the Center for International Forestry Research. He earned his professional degree and doctorate in forestry from the University of Goettingen, Germany. Ravi has served on numerous international initiatives and committees, including the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment where he served on the review and editorial team, and the UN Millennium Projects Taskforce 6 on Environmental Sustainability. He received the Queen’s Award for Forestry at Buckingham Palace in 2005.