Takashi Takahatake is an Economic Affairs Officer with the Subregional Office for South and South-West Asia of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP). Prior to joining the South and South-West Asia Office, he served for five years with ESCAP’s Strategy and Programme Management Division in Bangkok, Thailand as well as four years with ESCAP’s Centre for Alleviation of Poverty through Sustainable Agriculture (CAPSA) in Bogor, Indonesia. He also worked for over seven years with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) in Rome, Italy in a number of positions and was also a Fellow with the United Nations Institute for Training and Research Office in Hiroshima. He holds a Ph.D. from Hiroshima University in Japan and has extensive experience on sustainable livelihoods, food security and rural development issues, particularly in South Asia and Africa.