Walter J. Lusigi

Dr. Walter J. Lusigi was a Senior Advisor with the Global Environment Facility (GEF) Secretariat since May 1995 and he retired in 2010. He was "responsible for advice on issues related to Biodiveristy, Land Degradation and Natural Resources Management. He holds B.Sc. and M.Sc. Degrees in Range Ecology and Wildlife Management from Colorado State University USA and a Ph.D. Degree in Landscape Ecology from the Technical University of Munich in Germany with a dissertation on “ Planning of Human Activities on Protected Natural Ecological Systems”.

"Dr. Lusigi started his career in Kenya in 1972 as Habitat Ecologist on a UNDP/FAO Kenya Wildlife Management Project before being recalled to the Office of the President in Kenya in 1974 to start the National Environment Secretariat as Senior Ecologist. He joined Unesco in 1980 as Chief Technical Advisor of its Integrated Project in Arid Lands (IPAL), leading a multidisciplinary team of international scientists and consultants. He later in 1987 became Coordinator of the Unesco Program on Man and the Biosphere (MAB) in Africa before joining the World Bank in 1990 as Senior Ecologist in the Technical Department of the Africa Region.

"Dr. Lusigi has several international professional affiliations. He is a member of the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters, an affiliate Professor of Conservation Biology of the University of Oslo and an affiliate member of the faculty of Range Science at Colorado State University. He is fellow of the World Academy of Arts and Sciences. He was Regional Councilor and Vice President of IUCN from 1984 to 1990 while also being Vice Chairman of its World Commission on Protected Areas. He has also been a member of the IUCN Commissions on Ecology and Environmental Planning. He is a life member of the Society for Range Management and a former Director of its US National Capital Chapter in Washington DC.

"Dr. Lusigi has over 100 publications in his name with 25 of which are of special importance to conservation. His innovations on, the new approaches to conservation; conservation with local human population needs; the new resources manager; and the integrated management of arid lands; have found wide application around the world. He is widely traveled and has attended most major international environmental conferences and forums in the last three decades. He received the Colorado State University Achievement award of the College of Forestry and Natural Resources in 1986 and in 1990 received the Colorado State University Alumni Award"

• Advisor, World Wilderness Congress