Welcome Robert Nasi - new SE

We are happy to welcome Dr. Robert Nasi, the Chief Operating Officer of CIFOR-ICRAF, based in Indonesia, to the Oikos Editorial Board. To know more about him, read our interview below!

Website: https://www.cifor.org/research-staff/984/robert-nasi/

What’s your main research focus at the moment?
While a great part of my work is about managing the institution, I try remaining active in what has been the main focus of my work since I started working: how to sustainably use forest resources. More precisely for the last decade I have looking at sustainable wildlife management, the sustainable use of biodiversity (including the emerging issue of biodiversity markets) and sustainable finance.
 
Can you describe your research career? 
I started working my career in 1981 doing my Master as a monograph on Araucariaceae in New Caledonia. This is likely where my fascination for botany, sustainable management comes from. I must say I am not your usual scientist. I have mostly worked to solve development issues funded by development money and carrying research on the back of it. After New Caledonia, I worked in Cameroon, Malaysia, Gabon, Indonesia and many other tropical places. I joined CIFOR in 1999 occupying various positions in the organization from principal scientist to director general in 2017. Following the merger between CIFOR and ICRAF I am now the director of science for CIFOR-ICRAF while continuing my duties as director general of CIFOR. 
 
How did you become a scientist in ecology?
It has been originally the conjunction of various “stars”. I did not plan to become an ecologist. However I wanted to travel and to work in nature. I considered geology for a while but then came the offer to attend the forestry school in France and later to do my work in New Caledonia. The ecology of the island is so peculiar and fascinating that I decided I wanted to make tropical forest ecology my focus, yet with a sustainable use twist. I do not consider myself a pure ecologist or conservationist.

What do you do when you're not working?

I read (a lot), do some scuba diving and trekking (though less and less). I am also lucky to still have my parents and to have wonderful children and grandchildren to visit and spend some time with. But, as my beloved wife says, “you work all the time….”

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