TFF Installs Two European Directors
WASHINGTON, DC, January 16, 2012 - Two European leaders in tropical forestry have joined the Board of Directors of the Washington, DC-based Tropical Forest Foundation (TFF). Rene Boot and Ralph Ridder, based in the Netherlands and Switzerland, respectively, were elected to the Board of Directors at TFF’s Annual Meeting in October 2011, and officially began their terms on January 1, 2012. Read more...
“TFF’s Board of Directors is an integral part of the organization, providing more than leadership,” said TFF Executive Director Bob Johnston. “The members contribute expertise from science, conservation and industry to establish programs and training centers that improve forestry practices in the tropics while sustaining the economies of forest-dependent people. Rene and Ralph are valuable additions to the discussions and decisions.”
Boot is director of Tropenbos International, a Dutch foundation that aims to improve governance and management of tropical forests through research, capacity building and dialog. Tropenbos and TFF have worked together on projects at several of TFF’s training centers, and Boot spent three years in Guyana, where TFF has a training center. He is also an adjunct professor in sustainable tropical forest management at Utrecht University in the Netherlands, where he teaches research policy and supervises PhD students in forest ecology and forest-dependent livelihoods. Boot is a member of the editorial board of the Journal of Tropical Ecology and serves on an advisory committee of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN).
Ridder is the director of the Association Technique Internationale des Bois Tropicaux (ATIBT) and president of the Interafrican Forest Industries Association. Prior to becoming the leader of the two organizations in 2011, Ridder headed the FLEGT (Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade) and REDD (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation in Developing Countries) initiatives of the European Forest Institute. Ridder, too, has on-the-ground experience in the regions where TFF has training centers. He has pursued research and consulting with such diverse organizations as the DLR (German Aerospace Research Center), the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations, the World Wildlife Fund, the World Resources Institute, the World Bank, and the European Forest Institute.
Boot and Ridder will each serve a two-year term on the Board and will be eligible for re-election in 2013.
About the Tropical Forest Foundation
The Tropical Forest Foundation (TFF) is an international, non-profit, educational institution committed to advancing environmental stewardship, economic prosperity, and social responsibility through sustainable forest management (SFM). TFF regional programs in Asia Pacific, Africa, and South America have become synonymous with the promotion and training of Reduced Impact Logging (RIL). For 20 years, TFF has fostered dialogue and alliances among industry, government, and academia, as well as the research and conservation communities to improve tropical forest management around the world and increase the economic value of these forests for those who depend upon its bounty for their livelihood.
