Richard Eba’a Atyi has more than 25 years of experience working in forestry, especially in tropical forest management planning, forest economics, forest certification and forestry institutions. He has a Masters of Science in Forestry from Oregon State University, USA, and a PhD in forest resources management and economics from Wageningen University, Netherlands. Prior to joining CIFOR as Regional Coordinator for the Central Africa Region Office, Richard Eba’a Atyi worked as a Lecturer at the University of Dschang, Cameroon, and then as a manager of an African regional project for the International Tropical Timber Organization (ITTO) and for the European Commission-funded project, African Forests, on the development of an Observatory for the Forests of Central Africa. He also conducted a number of consultant assignments with the UN Food and Agriculture Organization, ITTO, the Congo Basin Forest Fund, the Forest Stewardship Council, the former German Agency for International Cooperation, and the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation.