Biography

Dr Paolo Cerutti is the Unit Head of CIFOR-ICRAF’s office in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), where he is based in Kisangani and Yangambi. A forester by training, Dr Cerutti focuses on theimplementation of the landscape approach, sustainable forest management in tropical production forests, forest certification, and timber and wood energy value chains. He joined CIFOR in 2004, initially based in Yaoundé, Cameroon. Over the years, he has contributed to numerous research and development initiatives aimed at improving forest governance and resource use across Central Africa. Beforejoining CIFOR, Dr Cerutti served as a Lieutenant in the Italian Army, was a visiting scientist at the United States Geological Survey and worked as an assistant forest expert supporting Albania’s National Forest Inventory.He holds a PhD in environmental governance from the Crawford School of Economics and Government at the Australian National University, and a master’s degree in remote sensing and natural resources evaluation from the Agronomic Institute for Overseas Countries (IAO) under the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Florence, Italy.