Dr. Robert Hofstede

Robert Hofstede is an experienced and successful manager of projects and institutions in the area of ecosystem management, ecological research, climate change and rural development. Currently, Robert works as an advisor on project and program management, evaluation, policy development and research for a wide range of international environmental organizations. As senior consultant, he has led and participated in numerous teams to develop and evaluate initiatives in the areas of nature conservation, climate change, natural resource management and rural development. He is particularly familiar with assessing complex, multidisciplinary and multinational projects and programs.

Robert has a 30+ years track record of generating knowledge on sustainable development and translating this into policy and practice for the benefit of people and the planet. He has working experience at the highest decision-making level with major international conservation NGO's, multilateral agencies and global research organizations. In the past, he was Associate Director Climate Change at the Agriculture and Environment Division of the International Development Research Centre (IDRC, Canada) and he directed the regional program for South America at the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN). Before that, he held senior management positions at the Consortium for the Sustainable Development of the Andean Ecoregion (CONDESAN, CGIAR) and the University of Amsterdam.

Dutch by birth but a global citizen by vocation, he has lived in four continents and gained working experience mostly in Latin America but also in Africa, Asia, Europe and North America. Trained as a tropical ecologist (Ph.D. Ecology, U. Amsterdam), his academic background includes many aspects of agronomy, forestry and geography. His current thematic expertise ranges from forest and landscape management to family agriculture and climate change adaptation and mitigation.