Zuzhang Xia currently serves as a forestry officer in the Forestry Department of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), responsible for planning, coordinating and implementing wood energy activities. He has been very much involved in addressing issues relevant to energy poverty and nature conservation through development of alternative energy sources and improvement of energy efficiency. His professional experience includes 5 years as Energy Access Specialist for the Energy for All Partnership Secretariat of the Asian Development Bank; 8 years as Program Director/Manager for an alternative energy program of The Nature Conservancy focusing on woodfuels and forest conservation; 5 years as the Coordinator for an energy enterprise development program to operationalize a green credit facility; and around 10 years working on energy and environment issues at a university and an academic institution. He holds educational degrees in the fields of rural energy development and energy economics.