Keynote address : Baudouin Michel, Rector of IFA Yangambi

Mr Baudouin Michel is the Rector of the Agronomy University of Yangambi (Kisangani DRC), alongside being Director of- and a professor at ERAIFT since 2010. ERAIFT's mission is to develop the conservation leaders of tomorrow. Attracting scholars from twenty-four African countries, ERAIFT is an African regional university dedicated to forest- and land management and planning.

Based in Kinshasa DR Congo, ERAIFT operates as a UNESCO Category 2 center and is funded by the EU, USAID, GIZ, and many other institutions. In twenty years. It has trained 445 conservation professionals.

An agro-economist, Mr Michel is also the Rector of IFA Yangambi, a DR Congo -based university dedicated to education and research in agronomic science, and a Senior Lecturer at Gembloux Agro-Bio Tech-University of Liège(Belgium).

Since 2019, he is also the Special Envoy for Francophone Africa at African Parks Network (APN). Headquartered in Johannesburg South Africa, APN is a nonprofit organization that manages protected areas throughout Africa, in collaboration with governments and surrounding communities.