Hans Herren
Chair
Hans Herren, an internationally recognized scientist, has worked for 27 years in Africa in agriculture, health, and environmental research. As Director of the Africa Biological Control Center of the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture in Nigeria, he led the successful biological control program against the cassava mealy bug and green mite. This effort saved the cassava crop, crucial to 200 million Africans, and averted a major food crisis, earning him the World Food Prize in 1995. Hans advocates for sustainable, holistic, and multi-stakeholder development approaches. He has received numerous awards, including the Right Livelihood Award and the Tyler Prize for Environmental Achievement. Hans is a Foreign Associate of the National Academy of Science, a Member of the Academy of Sciences for the Developing World, and a Full Member of the Club of Rome. He holds a PhD from the Federal Institute of Technology, Zurich, and completed post-doctoral research at the University of California, Berkeley. He is the founder of the Biovision Foundation, Switzerland.