Abdon Awono has more than 20 years of experience working in forestry, especially in tropical forest resource management, forest economics, and forest policy and land use systems. He has a PhD in Geography and Land Use Planning from Montpellier III University, France, a Master of Science in Environmental Impact Assessment from Dschang University, Cameroon and another Master of Science in Political Science from Yaoundé II University, Cameroon. Prior to joining this new position at CIFOR as Scientist Forests and Woodfuel Value Chains, Abdon Awono worked with CIFOR from 1997 to 2015 as Researcher conducting research on forest economics and environmental science, with more focus on Non-Timber Forest Product Value Chains across Central and West Africa. From 2015 to 2018, he has performed a number of consultant assignments with the World Bank and Rainforest Alliance, Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD), Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR) and German Society for International Cooperation.