About me

MK Kalimantan 2-2014_web_small
By forest police car in Kalimantan, Indonesia

My expertise is land use, climate change, sustainable development, forest ecology and forest management in the Tropics. I’ve published more than 350 publications including more than 100 scientific articles in international peer-reviewed journals and books.

I’m research director and professor emeritus at Viikki Tropical Resources Institute (VITRI), University of Helsinki, Finland.

I’ve been involved in international work on tropical forestry, land use and sustainable development for more than 40 years. I have worked as the Director of the Environmental Services and Sustainable Use of Forests Program of Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR, based in Indonesia) (2003-2010); Deputy Director General (vice rector) /Research Director of Centro Agronómico Tropical de Investigación y Enseñanza (CATIE, based in Costa Rica) (1996-2003); and earlier Project Manager of The Finnish Research Program on Climate Change (1990-1995).

I’ve been involved in science policy dialogue on forests and climate change for more than 30 years, and I’ve been actively involved in the work of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) since 1990 – recently as one of the Lead Authors of the IPCC Special Report on 1.5 degrees. I was member of the UNFCCC Adaptation Fund Board (2008-2017) and member of the Finnish Climate Panel (Suomen ilmastopaneeli) (2011-2019).

Since 2004, I’ve been a member of the Finnish Academy of Sciences and Letters. I received the Nobel Peace Prize as a member of the IPCC in 2007.

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