Cisco Aust holds a PhD in Forest Science and a M.Sc. in Sustainable Forestry and Land Use Management, both from the University of Freiburg, Germany.
From 2005-2007 he has worked for the German Development Cooperation in Ghana advising farmers in the afforestation of small-scale woodlots. From 2008-2012 he was in charge of the coordination of research projects for energy-wood at the Forest Research Institute of Baden-Württemberg, Germany. Afterwards he was for two years in Chile as integrated expert at the Instituto Forestal (INFOR) also in the research field of energy-wood and short rotation coppice. The last 4 years he has worked as Senior Consultant for different KfW financed sustainable forestry management and biodiversity conservation projects in China and Vietnam. Since July 2019 he is the project coordinator for a Forest Landscape Restoration project with GIZ in Ghana.