Technical Advisory Committee

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Nicholas Berry – Chair
 

Dr Nicholas Berry is a Partner at The Landscapes and Livelihoods Group (TLLG) - an organisation he helped establish to support Plan Vivo projects and other community-led natural resource management initiatives. He specialises in assessment and monitoring of carbon, biodiversity and ecosystem services and has worked in more than 20 countries throughout Africa, Southeast Asia, and Latin America. Nick has been involved with Plan Vivo since 2008, providing technical support to projects and developing methodologies for assessment of climate benefits from forest protection, agroforestry and climate-smart agriculture. He has contributed to the revision of the Standard in 2013 and 2022.

 

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Blanca Bernal
 

Dr Blanca Bernal, currently working at GreenCollar, is a wetland biogeochemist, experienced in carbon accounting and calculation of emission factors associated with land use and land use change. She has investigated carbon sequestration strategies for climate change mitigation, terrestrial and aquatic ecosystem response to environmental change, nutrient cycling in aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems, and the implications of environmental impacts on ecosystem services. Blanca has been involved with Plan Vivo since 2015, and is particularly interested in contributing to strengthen mechanisms that foster conservation and restoration of forests and blue carbon ecosystems.

 

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Charlotte Wheeler
  

Dr Charlotte Wheeler is a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Cambridge working with the Cambridge Centre for Carbon Credits. Charlottes expertise is in the field of tropical forest restoration, specialising in carbon and biodiversity monitoring of forest restoration projects, having conducted research in restoration projects in Malaysia, Uganda and Mexico. She is also experienced in mapping changes in forest biomass, linked to degradation and land-use change, using remote sensing techniques. Charlotte is particularly interested in understanding the global climate change mitigation potential of forest restoration, and how restoration-planning decisions influence carbon sequestration.

 

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Florian Reimer
 

Florian Reimer is currently the Head of Ecosystem Services at Lestari Capital – a social enterprise focused on mobilizing private sector funds for forest restoration & protection by integrating private sector markets and conservation. Since 2011 he has co-developed projects under various forest carbon standards, including most recently Plan Vivo. Coming from a background of remote sensing & GIS, Florian focused initially on land use GHG accounting before branching into wider project development, management and blended finance. He is working actively on Insetting projects related to land use supply chains of major multinational companies and their climate targets, especially in South East Asia.

 

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George Tarus
 

George is forestry and climate change expert with over 14 years’ experience. He holds an M.Sc. in Natural Resource Management and M.Sc. in Climate Change and pursuing PhD in Natural Resource Management. George works for Kenya Forest Service and member of Green House Gas Inventory (GHG), REDD+ and Forest and Landscape restoration technical working groups in Kenya. He also chairs the Scientific Committee of Forestry Society of Kenya, Certified expert on Environmental Impact Assessment and Audit and UNFCCC FULO and REDD+. In addition to being a TAC member for Plan Vivo, he is a part of the Forest Innovation Working Group of the VERRA Group.

 

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Jenny Farmer
 

Jenny is a researcher with Newcastle University and an environmental consultant, with 15 years of diverse experience working on the dynamics of land use and land use change, ecosystem service provision, community-based natural resource management and carbon market opportunities. She has a strong history of work in Uganda, where she co-founded the Uganda Carbon Bureau in 2006 and more recently Bubugo Conservation Trust in 2015, and has worked extensively in the country's environmental sector. She has particular expertise in the measurement and modelling of soil carbon and greenhouse gas emissions from land use change in tropical peatlands, which she studied for her PhD and in post-doctoral positions.

 

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Klaus Geiger
 

Klaus is the Manager for Nature Based Solutions in North America at South Pole, a global carbon project developer and climate solutions company. Klaus is a forester whose work with the carbon market and certification began in 2016 auditing voluntary forest carbon projects globally with Rainforest Alliance and later forest management certification across the US under Forest Stewardship Council with Preferred By Nature. While at The Nature Conservancy, he worked with landowners to sustainably manage their forestlands as part of their Working Woodlands program. Klaus served in the Peace Corps (Panama '09-'12), has a Masters of Forest Management from the Yale School of the Environment, and a Bachelors of Forest Science from University of Missouri-Columbia. Klaus is fluent in English and Spanish.

 

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Martin Kaonga
 

Dr Martin Kaonga is a terrestrial carbon biogeochemist, experienced in carbon auditing and calculation of emission factors associated with land use and land use change. He has investigated carbon dynamics in tropical land use systems. He has extensive experience in NBS/NCS project development and delivery to Plan Vivo, VCS, CCBS, TREES and JNR. Martin has provided technical oversight of six multi-country NBS/NCS programmes (over 40 projects) in 23 countries. He has been involved with Plan Vivo for over 10 years as a member of the Plan Vivo Technical Advisory Group (TAG). Martin is particularly interested in emission reductions through NBS/NCS.

 

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Peter Branney
 

Peter Branney is a freelance consultant with over 30 years of experience in forestry, specialising in community forestry and forest management planning. He has worked in 22 countries (particularly in South Asia), where he has: Facilitated workshops; planned and supported donor-funded programmes; carried out training; prepared manuals; conducted participatory research; and prepared reviews, studies and reports. Through this work, he has advised DFID, World Bank, EU, GTZ, KfW, FAO, UNDP, SDC, SNV, Intercooperation, Helvetas, RECOFTC, Birdlife International, IIED and other International NGOs, consultancy companies and organisations.

 

   

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Saran Sohi