Louis Defo
Senior Project Manager
Louis has more than 16 years’ experience working on conservation and natural resource management. His professional experience includes the following areas: sustainable forest management; forest certification; HCV assessments (social aspect); land use planning; community-based natural resource management (forest and wildlife); protected area planning and management; transboundary cooperation for forest and wildlife management; advocacy and facilitation in the framework of conservation initiatives; facilitation of multi-stakeholder processes; facilitation of the Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC) process; indigenous peoples' rights and conservation; environmental and social impact assessments; climate change; REDD+; and payment for environmental service (PES).
He is a social scientist by training and holds a master's degree in Rural Geography (University of Yaoundé I, Cameroon) and a PhD in Environment and Development (University of Leiden, Netherlands). Prior to joining Proforest, he was Project Manager in the WWF's Cameroon Programme Office. Louis is Senior Project Manager for Proforest based in the Congo Basin. In this framework, he works mainly on the promotion of sustainability in the oil palm, sugar cane, rubber and cocoa sectors in Central and West Africa.