Charles Karangwa is the Regional Lead for Forests, Landscapes and Livelihoods Programme for Africa at the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and serves as Country Director for Rwanda Office since 2016. Charles has led IUCN work on land restoration in Africa as part of the Bonn Challenge and African Forest Landscape Restoration Initiative (AFR100), he engaged both governments and non-states actors to bring Africa’s commitments to land restoration up to speed. Charles recently joined the COP26 High Level Champion team as the lead for land restoration in Africa and works to engage private sector and other non-state actors for an ambitious climate action to Race to Zero and Race to Resilience by 2050. Prior to Joining IUCN, he worked for United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Oxfam, Care International and Wildlife Conservation Society.