Ulrich Apel, a German national, is a Senior Environmental Specialist in the Global Environment Facility (GEF) with an expertise on land degradation neutrality and sustainable forest management. He coordinates GEF’s sustainable land management and landscape restoration financing of a global portfolio of GEF projects and programs. Prior to joining the GEF, he worked a chief technical advisor in natural resource management projects in China and Vietnam and conducted field research in community forestry, land use planning, land tenure, and legal framework analysis. Ulrich holds a Masters in Forestry Sciences and a PhD in Tropical and Subtropical Forest Management from the University of Goettingen, Germany.