Chilombo Andrew

A Zambian national, Andrew Chilombo is a researcher who, for more than a decade, has worked as an Environment and Natural Resources Management Specialist for different international development institutions, including: the Global Environment Facility (Washington DC, USA); the World Bank Group (Lusaka, Zambia); and UNEP and IFAD (Abidjan, Ivory Coast). Andrew collaborates with the academia, development partners and local communities in different country contexts in Africa to deliver on climate change and natural resources management-related projects. He has a proven solid experience in designing and managing land degradation, climate change and biodiversity projects and programs in support of the implementation of the mandates of the Three Rio Conventions (UNCCD, UNFCCC and UNCBD). He is a Technical Advisor for Envirosmart Solutions, a research group based in Zambia. He has a strong professional background but has also has been involved in research, particularly contemporary issues on land. This has strengthened his ability to translate research into development, but also how development can re/shape research agenda.

His recent publications on land issues have focused on the marginalization of land targeted for large-scale land acquisition (LSLA)  deals, governance and political ecology of failed land deals, the nexus between land tenure security and land restoration, the institutional politics of LSLAs, and community coping strategies of failed or LSLAs in limbo of development. He is a co-author of the second edition of the UNCCD Global Land Outlook Working Paper. 

Andrew holds a PhD Geography (University of Edinburgh, UK (2016 – 2019); an MSc Environmental Governance (Freiburg University, Germany (2010-2012)); and a BSc Agroforestry (Copperbelt University, Zambia (2006-2009)). For his PhD, he worked on understanding the socioeconomic and environmental impacts of large-scale land acquisitions deals in limbo of development in Zambia. Besides Bemba, Nyanja and basic German, Andrew speaks French, Swahili and Kirundi.