Severin Kalonga

WWF

Severin K Kalonga is a Forester by profession and holds BSc in Forestry from Sokoine University of Agriculture (1992-1995). Severin has a wide experience in Forest Ecology and Management (afforestation and reforestation), including International Forest Certification standards for forest management and Products. He started his career as a Forester about 25 years ago by working for TANWAT and KVTC forest plantation companies in different capacities, from 1995 - 2005, in Njombe and Kilombero, respectively, both were CDC owned companies. Severin holds MSc in Natural Resources Assessment and Management from the University of Dar es Salaam (2005-2007) and a PhD in Forest Ecology and Management (Biology) from the Norwegian University of Life Sciences, NORWAY (2011-2015). His PhD research was on ‘the influence of FSC-certified forest management in enhancing livelihood conditions, forest structure and biodiversity conservation’.

Since 2017, Severin has been working for WWF Tanzania Country Office as the Head of Business Development, responsible for partnership and development. He has been part of the WWF Tanzania team to facilitate the government of Tanzania (subscribing to AFR100, announce the pledge) to engage fully in achieving the AFR100 obligation. He has been and still serving in the National Task Force (secretariat) for FLR Strategy development. But also he is part of the National working group that will be responsible for the monitoring of FLR strategy at country level, coordinating all the efforts from all the players at landscape level.

From last October, 2021, he started working for the WWF FLR in Africa Initiative as the Lead. The Initiative covers 9 countries (Cameroon, DRC, Kenya, Tanzania, Madagascar, Mozambique, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe), with the goal of enabling governments in the region to deliver their AFR100 commitments in a just way that promotes sustainable livelihoods for local people and biodiversity conservation, with restoration under way on 13.5 million hectares of degraded land and deforested landscapes by 2027.