Alex Forbes
Associate Director
Qualifications
MSc Resource Assessment for Development Planning, University of East Anglia (UK) 1990; BA Geography & International Development, Clark University (USA) 1986
Alex has over 19 years experience in integrated conservation and development initiatives in Africa. He has in-depth knowledge and expertise in natural resource management within local level, national and regional contexts as well as within public sector and civil society institutions. He has experience of numerous African ecosystems from montane, lowland and coastal tropical moist forests, temperate grasslands and woodlands, and arid and semi-arid lands. He served as LTS Team Leader in Cameroon (1999-2003) on an integrated forest conservation project before spending four years in the Edinburgh office (2002-2006) where he led the Defra/ECTF Darwin Initiative Monitoring and Evaluation Programme, as well as establish a track record in monitoring and evaluation and environmental management. He worked as Adviser on the UNDP/UNEP/GoK Poverty and Environment Initiative (PEI) in Kenya (2006-2008) and now works full-time for LTS based in Nairobi, Kenya. Alex brings practical approaches to participatory planning and monitoring processes, mainstreaming of environment into development planning processes, and guiding and facilitating strategic and operational level pro-poor development and conservation projects and programmes.
Alex is currently serving as Interim Coordinator for the Congo Basin Forest Fund (CBFF), a US$ 200 million Fund launched by Prime Minister Gordon Brown (UK), Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg (Norway) and COMIFAC Ministers in June 2008. The CBFF aims to alleviate poverty and address climate change through reducing the rate of deforestation by developing the capacity of people and institutions in the Congo Basin countries to manage their forests, and help local communities find livelihoods that are consistent with the conservation of forests. Working with the CBFF Governing Council Co-Chairs, Rt..Hon. Paul Martin (Former Canadian Prime Minister) and Prof. Wangari Maathai (Nobel Peace Laureate), Alex is leading the establishment of the CBFF Secretariat and grant-making systems within the African Development Bank in Tunis, Yaounde and Kinshasa.
Countries
Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Djibouti, Ghana, Kenya, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierre Leone, Somalia, Switzerland, Tunisia, Uganda, United Kingdom, United States
