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Terry Sunderland

Terry Sunderland

Position​

  • Professor, Faculty of Forestry at the University of British Columbia, Canada
  • CoastMan Project Principal Investigator (PI)

About​

Professor Sunderland's work focuses on the biological and human dimensions of the sustainable management and utilization of tropical forests.

He was previously a Senior/Principal Scientist at the Centre for International Forestry Research (CIFOR), Indonesia, where he coordinated CIFOR's work on forests and food security, biodiversity conservation, and integrated landscape management. Prior to 2006, he was based in West Africa for over 15 years and worked on numerous conservation and livelihood-focused initiatives.

Having both a field practitioner and academic background gives him a wide perspective on conservation, livelihoods and issues related to sustainable landscape management. Terry has a master's degree in forestry from the University of Oxford and a PhD from the University of London.

He has published more than 320 research papers, book chapters and edited books and supervised many graduate studies related to tropical forestry, focusing particularly on the capacity of developing country scientists. Terry is an active blogger, social media user, and engages regularly with the media on disseminating research for policy influence and outreach.

Project management experience​

Terry has been PI/Co-PI on many multi and interdisciplinary development projects in many parts of the world; including:

  • Large projects in Guinea and Sierra Leone (USAID)
  • Burkina Faso (Finnish aid)
  • Zambia & Ghana (German development aid)
  • the Sahel (Austrian aid), Indonesia (Gates Foundation)
  • Sulawesi
  • Indonesia (Global Affairs Canada)
  • Lower Mekong (MacArthur Foundation).