Le Hoang Anh

Dr. Hoang Anh Le earned his master degree in VNU University of Science (Hanoi, Vietnam) in 2002 and another one in Asian Institute of Technology (AIT, Bangkok, Thailand) in 2007 on Environmental Engineering Management. He went on to earn his Ph.D. in Environmental System Engineering from the Korea Institute of Science and Technology (KIST, Seoul, Korea) in 2012.

Romina Cavatassi

Romina Cavatassi is in charge leading a number of Impact Assessments (IA) and in setting up a systematic approach for sound IA. This involves defining the theory of change and related indicators, developing the tools for data collection, leading the training and the data collection as well as data analysis and dissemination of results. She is also collaborating in mainstreaming climate change adaptation and mitigation.

Omer A. Zafar

Omer serves as a Principal Natural Resources and Agriculture Specialist of the Asian Development Bank, covering Southeast Asia. He is currently based at the ADB resident mission in Lao PDR.

Before joining ADB, he worked for IFAD and UNOPS, where he covered about 35 countries of Southeast Asia, East Asia, South Asia, Central Asia, the Balkans, the Caucasus, Eastern Europe, the Middle East, North Africa, and the Caribbean. Most recently, Omer served as IFAD Country Director for Bangladesh and the Maldives.

Sudarshan Dutta

Dr. Sudarshan Dutta has more than 15 years of working as agriculture scientist in smallholder farming system.

Presently Dr. Dutta is working as Lead Agronomist (India) at Agoro Carbon Alliance, a Norway based Carbon Farming organization. Dr. Dutta promotes sustainable management practices in Indian farming systems and provides leadership in planning and execution of carbon farming in India.

Jean Balie

Jean Balié has over two decades of experience in leadership and expertise developing policies for agriculture, food, and rural development.

Dr. Balié is currently the Director General of the International Rice Research Institute, and the Regional Director for South East Asia and the Pacific of the CGIAR. As Director General of IRRI, he sets the global strategic direction of the institute and manages its affairs in accordance with the policies and decisions of the IRRI Board of Trustees.

Louis Verchot

Dr. Louis Verchot is a Principal Scientist and Lead of the Land Restoration Group at the Alliance Bioversity – CIAT, based in Colombia. He has been working throughout the tropics on forestry and agriculture issues with a climate change focus for the past 35 years. His work in Asia focuses on deforestation, greenhouse gas emissions, land-use change, peatland degradation, and REDD+, among others. He has worked with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) since 2003, and recently was a lead author on the Special Report on Climate Change and Land.