Bringing together climate and development goals in Malawi and Rwanda

Urvashi Narain is a lead economist in the World Bank’s Environment, Natural Resources, and Blue Economy global practice, with over 20 years’ experience on issues at the intersection of environment and development policy.  Her areas of expertise span from air pollution management, watershed management, nature-based tourism, to climate change adaptation.  She leads the Environmental Economics Community, a group of 40 environmental economists at the World Bank, and has published widely in peer-reviewed journals including Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Environmental and Resource Economics, and Land Economics.   She earned her PhD in Environmental Economics from the University of California at Berkeley.

Stella Funsani Gama, is currently Director of Forestry, Ministry of Natural Resources and Climate Change in the Government of Malawi.  She is a forest resources and climate change management specialist with over twenty years of experience working on wide range of issues including participatory methodologies, climate diplomacy, forest governance and institutions, stakeholder engagement, women empowerment, general natural resources management and forest administration. 

Pablo Benitez is a Senior Environmental Economist with the World Bank. Over the last years, he led multi-sector investment projects in natural resource management and climate change. He also managed comprehensive technical assistance programs for diverse clients in Africa, South Asia, and Latin America. Pablo has more than eighteen years of experience working with development organizations, the private sector, government agencies, and academia. He has a large number of publications on climate change and environmental economics.  He holds a Ph.D. degree from Wageningen University and was a co-author of the IPCC report of 2007.

Faustin Munyazikwiye is Deputy Director General (DDG) of Rwanda Environment Management Authority (REMA) since November 2017. In addition to the duties of DDG of REMA, Faustin is the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) National focal point for Rwanda and Lead Negotiator since 2012. Faustin has held a wide range of technical and senior management positions and responsibilities in the field of environment and climate change including Director of Climate Change and International Obligations Unit. Faustin holds a master’s degree in environmental management from University of Kwazulu Natal (South Africa,2010) and a Post Graduate Diploma in Human Resources Management from Maastricht School of management (Netherlands, 2008).