Description
Launched in 2020 by the Global Landscapes Forum and the Youth in Landscapes Initiative, the Restoration Stewards program aims to support the efforts of youth-led teams in holistically restoring their landscapes and seascapes while nurturing biocultural diversity.
https://stewards.globallandscapesforum.org/about-us/
As part of the program, each Restoration Steward is paired with one or two senior scientists from GLF Charter Member Organizations or the broader network of GLF. IUFRO has supported this program from the start and is happy to announce that two mentors proposed by IUFRO have been confirmed to support two of the 2025 Restoration Stewards:
Vianny Ahimbisibwe (MSc), a research scientist from Uganda working at the Thünen Institute of International Forestry and Forest Economics in Hamburg, Germany, will mentor Ngobi Joel from Uganda.
Vianny Ahimbisibwe is also pursuing a PhD at the Technical University of Munich. His PhD and his work are focused on the restoration of forest land use potential and ecosystem services in Africa. Ngobi Joel is a Ugandan climate, education, and rural development activist. He has a Bachelor Degree of Development Studies at Makerere University Uganda. The initiative for which he has been selected is called the School Forest Initiative. It involves mobilizing schools and communities to develop food forests for improved biodiversity and environmental consciousness at the same time providing fruit foods to the children and the community.
Promode Kant, the director of IGREC (Institute of Green Economy) and a former member of the Indian Forest Service, is) will mentor Shaik Imran Hussain Choudhary from India.
Promode Kant holds a PhD in Climate Change and Forestry, a Master's degree in Physics and in Forestry, and a post graduate diploma in wildlife conservation and management. In IUFRO he has co-authored several important publications mainly related to forest and landscape restoration topics and has served as a workshop trainer for the Special Programme for Development of Capacities (SPDC). Shaik Imran Hussain Choudhary is a young Indian agriculturist and the founder of Prakheti Agrologics, an agroecology startup focused on promoting agrobiodiversity, sustainable farming, and land restoration in India. His project in the Western Ghats aims to conserve rare, endangered, and threatened (RET) tree species while addressing the livelihood and agricultural needs of local communities, ensuring ecological restoration and economic objectives.