Steering Committee

Henk van Duijn is the President and CEO of the International Fertilizer Development Centre (IFDC). Under his leadership, IFDC seeks to promote soil health as a holistic approach to agricultural development. Van Duijn, with extensive experience in land and water management in the Netherlands and internationally, sees the restoration of degraded soils as key to water conservation, sustainable social and economic growth, and climate change mitigation. Prior to assuming leadership at IFDC, van Duijn served as Program Director of 2SCALE, a pan-African business incubator led by IFDC, as CEO of Bopinc, and, among others, as a diplomat and civil service director in the Netherlands. In these roles, he has led the design, startup, and implementation of national and international public-private partnerships in Africa, Asia, and Europe. He holds a master’s degree in Land and Water Management from Wageningen University & Research.

Martina Fleckenstein is the Global Policy Director of the Food Practice for WWF International. Martina has more than 25 years of experience in national and international environment and development policy and has many years of expertise in implementing projects related to sustainable land use and agri-food systems in different geographies. Prior to joining WWF International, Martina was Director, Agriculture & Land Use Change with WWF Germany. In this role she worked on sustainability standards, transparency in supply chains and international commodity markets.

Dr. Zakir Hussain holds a PhD from Humboldt University of Berlin and is a DAAD (German Academic Exchange Programme) scholar. An agricultural researcher with over 25 years of experience working on agricultural research and development (R&D) initiatives in India and other nations. In RySS, GIZ, and other NGOs, he has worked extensively to promote soil health management practices throughout India. Having formal research experience with farmers in India on climate resilience, soil health, water, and natural farming practices. Collaborated with multiple national and international research organisations, universities, and government agencies to establish a body of evidence and publish numerous peer-reviewed articles; now serves as senior Thematic Lead in Indo-German Global Academy established by RySS, Government of Andhra Pradesh. His background is mostly in the areas of evidence generation, research, and the development of novel models for sustainable agricultural practises, new approaches to crop management, and agricultural responses to climate change. In addition, His areas of competency include project conceptualization, project development, stakeholder engagement, and stakeholder management, as he has worked with ICTs in agricultural development as part of the GIZ CCKN-IA project. Active participation in wide-ranging development projects, working in tandem with government agencies, NGOs, private companies, and non-profits.

Bharat Kakade is the President & Managing Trustee of an Indian Non-Profit organisation working for sustainable rural livelihoods and climate action for the last 56 years, with a spread of its operations in 93738 villages in 14 Indian states, covering over 4 million rural poor families. BAIF’s Mission is to create opportunities for gainful self-employment for rural families, especially disadvantaged sections, ensuring sustainable livelihood, enriched environment, improved quality of life and good human values.

While undertaking various projects, his significant contributions include the innovative, sustainable and scalable rural livelihoods and natural resource management programmes in different agro-ecological regions of India including the Himalayan terrain, arid areas of Western India, Western Ghats, Ravines in Uttar Pradesh and semi-arid areas in Central and Southern India.

As a Sustainable Development expert, he undertook several international and domestic assignments for organizations including India Canada Environment Facility (ICEF), Plan International, Concern World Wide, Sathguru Management Consultants Pvt Ltd, IWMI, Tata Trust, Hindustan Unilever Ltd, CCAFS, and USAID. He also played Advisory roles for many civil society organizations and a few state Govt. Depts in India. Presently, he is a member of the Water Resource-based Green Credit Committee set up by Govt of India.

Bharat Kakade has a PhD from IIT Bombay, BE and ME at College of Engineering Pune, an MBA from IGNOU and he is also a Fellow of Leadership in Environment and Development–International (LEAD-I).

Bharat has about 30 different publications to his credit including watershed manuals, case studies, research reports and research papers on sustainability, livelihood and natural resource management.

Dr David Kamau is a soil scientist and currently serves as the Director of Environment & Natural Resource Systems, Kenya Agricultural & Livestock Research Organization, Nairobi, Kenya. David holds a PhD in Production Ecology & Resource Conservation from Wageningen University & Research Centre, Netherlands; MForSc in Soil fertility from the University of Melbourne, Australia; and a BSc in Chemistry from the University of Nairobi. He has previously worked as a senior scientist at the Tea Research Foundation of Kenya and the Kenya Forestry Research Institute. His main research interest areas are; the chemistry of acid soils, fertilizer use, soil fertility & plant nutrition, and GxExM interactions in agro-ecosystems. David has published widely and contributed towards the development of many policy documents in the agriculture sector. He is also actively involved in professional training in his area of specialization.

Rattan Lal, Ph.D., is a Distinguished University Professor of Soil Science and Director of the CFAES Rattan Lal Center for Carbon Management and Sequestration at the Ohio State University, as well as an Adjunct Professor of University of Iceland and the Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI), India. On June 11, 2020, Professor Lal was named the recipient of the prestigious World Food Prize-2020 for developing and mainstreaming a soil-centric approach to increasing food production that restores and conserves natural resources and mitigates climate change. Over his career spanning more than five decades and four continents, Dr. Lal has promoted innovative soil-saving techniques benefiting the livelihoods of more than 500 million smallholder farmers, improving the food and nutritional security of more than two billion people and saving hundreds of millions of hectares of natural tropical ecosystems. He currently serves on the Biden-appointed Board for International Food and Agriculture Development (BIFAD).

60 years old, Paul LUU is an agronomist specialized in tropical agronomy, graduate from AgroParisTech, the Institute of Tropical Areas of Montpellier, the National High School of Agricultural Applied Sciences of Dijon, and the University of Montpellier (PhD in “population biology”).

He began his career in the field, with six years in the heart or at the head of agronomic research projects in the Caribbean (St. Lucia), Indian Ocean (Sri Lanka) and the Pacific (Tonga), before joining the international Relationship Department of the French Ministry of agriculture.

During the following 7 years, he was in charge of multilateral relationships with FAO, the World Bank and the CGIAR, of bilateral relationships with the countries in Africa and the Mediterranean area, as well as the management of the French food aid (200 000 t of grain per year), as Head of Mission and then as Head of Department.

Then comes 9 years spent in developing the agriculture of French overseas departments and territories, 3 years as Technical Advisor "Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry" of the Minister of Overseas, then 6 years as Director of ODEADOM (the Board in charge of agricultural development of overseas areas that pays European (CAP) and national subsidies to agriculture of those regions).

In 2011, Paul LUU was appointed Director of Agropolis International, the international association that represents the scientific community "Agronomy - Environment - Biodiversity - Water" of the Languedoc-Roussillon area (one of the largest in the world with over 10,000 scientists). He contributed in particular to the installation of the CGIAR in Montpellier, an International organization dedicated to agricultural research for the benefit of the poorest people on the planet. He joined the organization in September 2013 as Liaison Officer with the French Authorities, and then as Protocol Officer.

From September 2016, Paul LUU is Executive Secretary of the “4 per 1000 Initiative: Soils for Food Security and Climate”, launched at COP 21 in Paris and hosted by the CGIAR System Office until December 2020, then by the Alliance Bioversity International – CIAT from 1st January 2021.

Paul is the author of the book "Farmers Have the Earth in Their Hands" published by La Butineuse.

Paul LUU is married (two children) and is fond of the environment and nature (flora and fauna) both terrestrial and marine.

Pamela Mbabazi is a Professor of Development Studies and currently the Executive Chair of the National Planning Authority, Government of the Republic of Uganda. Previously, Prof. Mbabazi served as Head of Research for the GIZ-supported Africa Peace & Security Program at the Institute for Peace & Security Studies, Addis Ababa University. Prior to that, Mbabazi served as the Dean of Development Studies at Mbarara University (1998–2010), where she established the Faculty of Development Studies. She moved up the ranks to become the Deputy Vice Chancellor of Mbarara University (2010–2015), where she served her term for five years. Mbabazi has served on several boards, including the African Research & Resource Centre, the Swedish International Centre for Local Democracy, and the National Council for Science and Technology in Uganda, among others. Mbabazi is a former Fulbright African Scholar and was also the Claude Ake Visiting Professor at the Nordic Africa Institute (2013). Pamela was a Visiting Commonwealth Scholar at the University of Leeds in 2012, conducting research and writing on the topics of oil governance and land governance, respectively. She has made a transition from Academia to practice and is currently at the helm of policy formulation and planning for the Government of Uganda.

Phrang has a history of grassroots work in Western India in 1971 navigating bureaucracy, and discovering the role of women as indigenous knowledge holders. Whilst at the UN (IFAD) he explored innovative ways of reaching out to the rural poor and led agricultural and rural development projects and policy. He was selected in 2002 to be IFAD’s Assistant President and became the first indigenous person to be appointed to the level of Assistant Secretary General of the United Nations. He then went on to join the Christensen Fund in 2007 which helped him discover his hidden interests in ecology and biocultural diversity before he took up the challenge of establishing TIP in Rome. Phrang is also Chairman of the North East Slow Food and Agrobiodiversity Society (NESFAS), the Meghalaya Water Foundation and in the past served as a Member of the International Panel of Experts of Sustainable Food (IPES-Food), Member of the the Advisory Board for the Agroecology Fund, International Councillor for Slow Food International and Assistant President to the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD).

Global Director of Sustainable AgriFood Systems at CIMMYT, Professor Sieg Snapp is a pioneer in participatory action research and regenerative agriculture, through an inclusive lens. Research and data systems in support of public, private and civil society partnerships with farmers is a key theme for greater resilience in farming systems. Through interdisciplinary collaborations, her team of over a hundred scientists generate insights for soil health and crop diversity, including dual use legume systems, ecological nutrient management, conservation and sustainable agriculture.Global Director of Sustainable AgriFood Systems at CIMMYT, Professor Sieg Snapp is a pioneer in participatory action research and regenerative agriculture, through an inclusive lens. Research and data systems in support of public, private and civil society partnerships with farmers is a key theme for greater resilience in farming systems. Through interdisciplinary collaborations, her team of over a hundred scientists generate insights for soil health and crop diversity, including dual use legume systems, ecological nutrient management, conservation and sustainable agriculture.

Dr. van der Vorst is Head of Innovation Rabobank (Wholesale Rural) and CEO of Rabo Carbon bank. He is a former entrepreneur and professor at Delft University of Technology. From 2015 onwards he is mentioned as one of the 200 most influential people in the Netherlands (Volkskrant research).

Roland is a seasoned innovation executive, working at the crossroads of strategic thinking, creative thinking and entrepreneurship.

He built up the global innovation department of Rabobank, resulting in a portfolio of successful businesses contributing to the bottom line and to the bank’s sustainability goals. His innovations expand from Acorn, a global carbon credit agroforestry venture supporting smallholder farmers to a blockchain proposition to gain capital relief.

He also created and set up new strategic capabilities for the bank, like geospatial monitoring.

As CEO of Rabo Carbon Bank, he leads the bank’s engine for business innovations that help the bank and his clients to accelerate to a net zero, or preferably, a net positive world.

He combines a visionary, imaginative way of working with an entrepreneurial spirit and people skills. He is used to getting things done in complex environments.

A visionary mindset also characterises him as a non-fiction writer. He is a weekly columnist for Het Financieele Dagblad (The Dutch Financial Times) on innovation. In September 2023, his new book was launched on the impact of digitization on the way we think (title in Dutch: “de toekomst is eindeloos”.) Earlier, he wrote books on curiosity and hope.

Before joining Rabobank he advised clients in various industries on disruptive business strategies, positioning and innovation. He has managed professional organizations and put his strategies into practice by being an entrepreneur in both Europe and Singapore.

In 2003 he became chairman of BBDO Netherlands. He combined this work with scientific research. In 2004 he published his PhD thesis. This thesis was nominated for the best PhD research by NOBEM.

In 2005 he left BBDO to start his own agency, with a group of partners, called THEY. THEY have an office in Amsterdam and Delhi.

In 2013 he left THEY Amsterdam to become an entrepreneur in Singapore. In 2015 he came back to the Netherlands to become managing director of Freedomlab and professor at TU Delft and the managing director of FreedomLab. In April 2016 he became head of innovation of Rabobank (WRR).

Tom Williams is Director, Agriculture and Food at the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD), based in London, United Kingdom and has been with WBCSD since September 2018 in various leadership roles including for water stewardship and nature action. In his current role, Tom leads WBCSD efforts to support members in the agri-food value-chain to set ambitious climate- and nature-related targets, account for their dependencies and impacts and disclose their progress. Tom has worked in both developed and developing countries, with experience collaborating with a range of stakeholders including government, research institutes, businesses, donor agencies, UN agencies and NGOs. Tom has an MSc in Microbiology and MBA from Rotterdam School of Management.

Dr Leigh Ann Winowiecki is the CIFOR-ICRAF Soil and Land Health Global Research Lead. A soil scientist, her research focuses on scaling farmer-centered landscape restoration, understanding drivers of degradation and quantifying the impacts of land management on soil organic carbon. She is based in Nairobi, Kenya. Since 2009 she has co-developed and implemented the Land Degradation Surveillance Framework (LDSF) in over 40 countries. The framework is a systematic methodology to assess ecosystem health and track restoration efforts across landscapes. She has published widely on soil organic carbon, ecosystem services and land degradation across sub-Saharan Africa and the tropics, including a coherent set of open-access datasets. She co-leads the Coalition of Action 4 Soil Health (CA4SH) within the UN Food Systems Summit, which aims to catalyze investments in soil health for human well-being and climate. Leigh has a PhD from CATIE in Costa Rica in Tropical Agroforestry and in Soil Science from the University of Idaho. She was a postdoctoral fellow at Columbia University - Earth Institute. She joined CGIAR in 2011. She is on the Scientific Task Force and the Monitoring Task Force for the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration as well as the Scientific Steering Committee for the Global Soil Health Programme. She co-leads the Landscape Restoration Transformative Partnership Platform. She is also a founding Board Member of the International Union of Agroforestry (IUAF).

Kelly Witkowski leads the Agriculture Climate Action and Sustainability Program at the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture, where she focuses her efforts on promoting a more efficient, sustainable and low-emissions agriculture, and on fostering a more active and informed participation of the agricultural sector in national and international processes related to climate change.  She is based in Costa Rica and has masters degrees in sustainable development and international affairs.