THE TEAM
Pr. Dr. Louis Zapfack
Pr. Dr. Louis Zapfack is a botanist whose research focuses on the flora and vegetation of tropical forest and savannas of Africa. His work has led him to specialize in Orchidaceae family in which 70 % are epiphytes. He is involved in the global program on alternative to slash and burn agriculture. He has been working since 1999 on methods to quantify biomass and carbon in different land use systems in Africa.
More About PR. DR. LOUIS ZAPFACK
He is Professor at University of Yaounde I, Cameroon and provides lectures on Plant Systematic and Applied Ecology at the Undergraduate level, Phytogeography, Forestry Ecology, Climate change and REDD+ process (carbon stock evaluation) and Inventory and Biometric in Graduate level. Presently, he supervises 5 Ph.D students and 6 MSc. Students. Pr. Zapfack is IFED’s representative Central Africa & other parts of Africa.
Dr. J. Andrew Grant
Dr. J. Andrew Grant is an Associate Professor in the Department of Political Studies at Queen’s University. Dr. Grant is the recipient of an Early Researcher Award from the Government of Ontario’s Ministry of Research and Innovation for work on governance in natural resource sectors. Dr. Grant has been a Visiting Scholar/Researcher at Northwestern University, USA, and University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa.
More About Dr. J. Andrew Grant
During his doctoral studies, he served as an intern at the Campaign for Good Governance, a non-governmental organization (NGO) based in Freetown, Sierra Leone. He has published more than 40 scholarly papers and is editor of Darfur: Reflections on the Crisis and the Responses (CIDP 2009) and co-editor of The New Regionalism in Africa (Ashgate 2003), The Research Companion to Regionalisms (Ashgate 2011), and New Approaches to the Governance of Natural Resources: Insights from Africa (Palgrave 2014). He conducts field research on a regular basis in Sierra Leone, Ghana, Botswana, Namibia, and South Africa. Dr. Grant is a Senior Fellow with the Queen’s Centre for International and Defence Policy, a Faculty Associate with the Queen’s Southern African Research Centre, and a Research Fellow with the Centre for Foreign Policy Studies at Dalhousie University. He has served on the Executive Councils of the International Political Science Association Research Committee #40 (New World Orders) and International Studies Association–Canada. Dr. Grant has also advised Canadian, American, British, and German policy-makers on topics ranging from human security, development, and regional security in fragile states to the politics of natural resource governance. Dr. Grant is North America IFED’s representative and also representative for IFED Publishing.
Dr. Adrien Djomo
Dr. Djomo is Adjunct Assistant Professor at Queen’s University, Canada. He just completed recently a new book “Climate Change mitigation. Forest Ecosystems: Measurement and Modelling of Biomass and Carbon”. It explains the various techniques needed for using forest ecosystems for climate change mitigation, enhancement of carbon stocks in the forests, sustainable management of forest ecosystems, modeling and monitoring carbon stocks from forests. In 2015 he has edited another book on Climate Change.
More About Dr. Adrien Djomo
The book has13 articles each with multiples authors and covers different topics on climate change. It includes most of the topics needed to understand the issues of climate change and to increase awareness on this crucial threat of our days. He was chosen as technical expert to assess the tools and methodology to monitor the carbon pools from deforestation and forest degradation from the DRC forest which is the second largest tropical forest of the world and represents 60% of the Congo basin forest. This assessment has led writing a book for professionals, NGOs and students interested in this topic entitled “REDD+ en RDC: Etat des lieux et options opérationnelles pour le développement des équations allométriques”. In 2014, Dr. Djomo reviewed planning and methodology for REDD+ of all the six countries involved on the management in Congo basin which is the second largest tropical forest of the world. He is recipient of the CAREG research grant which has led him to conduct in partnership with a forest industry in Cameroon a research in support to REDD+ in Central Africa. He is author of more than 20 scholar papers. Before returning to graduate schools in Germany where he obtained is MSc and PhD, he coordinated forest inventories, socio-economic studies, forest management plans for about 10 forest companies and provided technical advice and professional training to local and international NGOs. Dr. Djomo is IFED’s CEO.
Dr. Hans Wullaert
Dr. Ing. Hans Wullaert is specialized in environmental chemistry in the field of soil (forestry and agriculture), water (waste water treatment) and air (fluxes of greenhouse gases). For his career he has hands-on experience in Europe, Latin-America, Africa and Asia. He also has experience with quality management as well as the academics, research institution and private sector. Dr. Hans is IFED’s representative in Europe.
Dr. Ali Asghar Vahedi
Dr Vahedi graduated from the Faculty of Natural Resources, Science and Research Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran. The topics of his PhD was “Relationship between plant biodiversity and variation of below- and above-ground carbon sequestration in the natural Hyrcanian forests in north of Iran”. His research focuses on estimation of biomass and carbon pools in natural forest ecosystems in association with climate change and global warming projects.
More About Dr. Ali Asghar Vahedi
His research also expands to the development of allometric equations in relation to ecological and biological theory and introducing new protocols better than allometric equations for predicting standing tree biomass and above-ground carbon pool in natural forests. He also works on two projects: using artificial neural network and Fuzzy set theory for better monitoring variation of biomass production and biomass carbon storage in forests ecosystems. Dr. Vahedi research interest also expands to forest structure, architecture and spatial pattern in combination with plant diversity. His works also cover modeling and monitoring the variation of soil carbon storage and soil nutrient in forest ecosystems using environmental factors, physical, biophysical and measurable variables. He is currently research expert in Research Institute of Forests and Rangelands (RIFR), Tehran, Iran. His responsibility in RIFR includes developing innovative research protocols for natural forests and wood cultures such as polar & Willow tree species. Dr Vahedi also explores carbon cycle disturbance and its relation with harvesting and extracting trees from forest ecosystems. Dr. Vahedi is IRAN and Asia representative of IFED.
Dr. Martin Claude Yemele
After a Master of Science (MSc) in International and tropical forestry obtained in 2004 in Germany and doctorate degree (PhD) in wood science from Laval University in Canada in 2008. Since July 2008, Dr. Yemele is working as industrial advisor at the Department of forest products industries and modernization of the Quebec Ministry of Forests, Wildlife and Parks where he is involving in the development and management strategies, and action plans for the forest products industry. Dr. Yemele coordinates research and development initiatives in the industries in partnership with chairs and research organizations. Thus, he monitors the links and developing synergies between various activities and agencies of the Québec forest sector.
More About Dr. Martin Claude Yemele
Dr. Yemele is also active in academia as adjunct professor at the Faculty of Forestry, Geography and Geomatics at Laval University and the Forest Institute of the University of Quebec in Abitibi-Témiscamingue (UQAT) where he participates in the implementation of research projects and the co-supervision of graduate students.
He has also done an undergraduate university studies in forest engineering, as part of a cooperation project between Canada and Cameroon, and worked from 1992 to 2001 as a teacher and coordinator of the forestry sector in technical school Sangmelima, Cameroon. He is aware of major issues and economic development challenges facing rural communities in forested regions of Central Africa. Dr. Yemele collaborated in the establishment of several incubator projects in agroforestry including that of High School. He supervised the field of national reforestation campaign in the Sahel region of northern Cameroon.
In 2013, Dr. Yemele completed a Master of Public Administration program specializing in program evaluation at the National School of Public Administration, Quebec. This training has given him an internship for five months at the Canadian International Development Agency, which allowed him to be sufficiently informed on the issues, challenges and working mechanisms of international cooperation in the world and especially in Africa.
Dr. Yemele is co-authored of several scientific articles and a member of several scholarly and professional societies, including the Forest Products Society, the Society of Wood Science and Technology and the College of Forestry Engineers of Quebec. Dr. Yemele is IFED’s representative for Forest industry and wood science.
Tegan McWhirter
Tegan was born and raised in Timmins, Ontario. Her early interest in the environment developed as a result of multiple family camping trips at a very young age. In 2011 she began working for the Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry (MNRF) in Northern Ontario as a seasonal forest fire ranger, fighting forest fires throughout Canada. She joined as a result of her life long passion for the outdoors and environmental and resource management which is also the reason she completed undergraduate degree (Honours) in Environmental Science from Queen’s University.
More About Tegan McWhirter
ing her undergraduate program she collaborated with two other students to publish a reviewed scientific paper with Dr. Adrien Djomo in the International, Forest and Environment Research on “The Social and Economical Impacts of Climate Change on the Amazon Rainforest”. Additionally, she completed her Honours Project on Biodiversity Monitoring of the Frontenac Arch Biosphere (FAB) and Landon Bay Region where she acted as an environmental consultant with a team of three other students for the organization. Together they created and presented an online meta-database that is hosted on the organizations website, that specifically examines and organizes any biodiversity monitoring completed within the FAB and Landon Bay Region. Apart from academics Tegan has been actively involved in a variety of extracurricular activities including Queen’s University department student council, acting as a council member for two years before becoming a president in her final year of university. Additionally, she was an executive for Queen’s Backing Action on Climate Change (QBACC), creating a divestment proposal to divest from fossil fuels to cleaner more sustainable energy.
Tegan is currently completing her Master’s (Thesis) in Environmental Science in conjunction with Nipissing University and the University of Western Ontario, where she is assessing the intensity and behaviour of past fires using the oxygen isotope composition of char. Tegan is IFED’s representative for climate change issues.
Dr. Mabaye DIA
More about Dr. Mabaye DIA
Récemment, il a occupé le poste de Directeur du Parc national d’Odzala-Kokoua en République du Congo pour le compte d’African Parks Network avant de rejoindre le Programme des Nations-Unies pour le Développement (PNUD) au Cameroun en qualité d’Expert international en financement durable des aires protégées du Bassin du Congo. Dr. Dia est de retour au Gouvernement fédéral du Canada où il occupe le poste de Scientifique principal en évaluation des impacts à Parcs Canada.
Dr. Nomusa Mngoma
Nomusa Mngoma, PhD.
Dr. Mngoma is a Clinician Scientist affiliated with the Department of Global Development Studies, Department of Medicine, and an Adjunct Associate Professor in the School of Rehabilitation Therapy at Queen’s University. She is a Special Advisor to the South African High Commission in Ottawa, Canada. She has held numerous positions as a research and program evaluation consultant, including a position as a Monitoring, Evaluation, Research and Learning Lead for a Mastercard Foundation project which promotes access to equitable education for young Africans.
More about Dr. Nomusa Mngoma
Dr. Mngoma obtained her Master of Science degree in the School of Rehabilitation Therapy and PhD in the School of Kinesiology and Health Studies at Queen’s University. Earlier in her career, she worked in rehabilitation as a clinician scientist and her work focused on psychosocial issues in rehabilitation and recovery. She actively shared her research work with international audiences through conference presentations and academic training workshops.
After her doctorate, Dr. Mngoma completed a two-year post-doc which facilitated her transition from clinical research to community-based research focused on socio-cultural factors at the intersection of blood-borne virus infections and gender-based violence. Since 2008, Dr. Mngoma has worked with many women’s groups advocating for the empowerment of women and girls, particularly in rural areas. Her advocacy work has also included raising awareness of the importance of education for girls and prevention of violence against children.
She has extensive experience in and passion for supporting communities in finding solutions to their most pressing concerns. As well, in all of her global health related work, she endeavours to ensuresthat capacity development or enhancement is a key component of the work. For example, in a recent survey of 2000 household in a remote and highly impoverished rural area in South Africa, she trained 20 local community members to work as survey data collectors and also provided them with basic computer training; both useful and transferrable skills.
In terms of prevention of violence against women, Dr. Mngoma’s research and community work includes working with traditional and faith leaders in raising awareness of the important roles their position affords them in the efforts to promote the status of women in their communities. Through her work with Sisonke CARES, she has organized and conducted dozens of workshops and focus groups hearing from women and girls about their experiences and providing education about women’s rights and protections, as well as access to resources.
Dr. Mngoma has served on boards of organizations supporting various roles women play in the family and community, including the Ban Righ Foundation supporting women in higher education at Queen’s and Sub-Saharan Women’s Health not-for-profit organization which aims to educate and empower young women and girls promoting. She is currently working on a number of initiatives with youth in rural villages in South Africa, including training village COVID-19 prevention champions, youth mental health, and the introduction of youth-led sustainable projects.