Belachew Gizachew (PhD), is a Research Scientist at the Norwegian Institute of Bioeconomy Research (NIBIO), based in Ås, Norway. He holds a PhD in Forestry, and MSc in Resource and Development Economics, both from the Norwegian University of Life Sciences (NMBU). He obtained an undergraduate degree in Forestry from Haramaya University and Wondo Genet College of Forestry and Natural Resources, Ethiopia. His research focuses on Tropical Forests in the context of Climate Change and Sustainable Forest Management, including Conservation, Restoration, and Sustainable Livelihoods. Through his extensive experience, he has led and contributed to numerous applied research and development projects, resulting in substantial publications, reports, and international collaborations. His work has significantly contributed to the field of tropical forest conservation, including protected areas, restoration of degraded landscapes, and sustainable livelihoods.

Dr. Deo Shirima is a Senior Lecturer and Safeguard Information system officer at the Department of Ecosystems and Conservation in the College of Forestry, Wildlife and Tourism, and National Carbon Monitoring Centre at the Sokoine University of Agriculture. He completed his BSc and MSc in Forestry from Sokoine University of Agriculture in 2006 and 2009, respectively. In 2015, he received his PhD in Biology from the Norwegian University of Life Sciences. He also serves as a forest Ecologist and a Forester by training. His main research interests include: 1) understanding interactions between humans and ecosystems on earth, with a focus on the topics of forest structure, changing agriculture and agroforestry landscapes, and the carbon cycle. 2) applying research in solving grassroots conservation and ecosystem management challenges.

Jonathan Rizzi earned an MS degree in Geographical Information Systems from Iuav University of Venice in 2003 and MS and PhD degrees in Environmental Sciences from Ca' Foscari University in 2008 and 2014, respectively. He is now the researcher and project manager on GIS, remote sensing, and big data, which he has applied in the bioeconomy sector at the Norwegian Institute of Bioeconomy Research (NIBIO). The main research activities are concerned with the use of GIS in several environmental sectors, including climate change, contaminated sites, and water quality. Development of GIS-based tools such as a Spatial Decision Support System for climate change impact assessment (DESYCO) and WebGIS for climate data. He also worked on the definition of methodologies addressing climate change impacts of coastal zones that are useful to support the definition of adaptation measures. He also has experience in MultiCriteria Decision Analysis (MCDA).

Collins B. Kukunda received his PhD in Forest Sciences and Forest Ecology from the University of Goettingen, Germany, in 2020 and his MSc in Geoinformation Science and Earth Observation for Environment Modelling and Management at Lund University in Sweden and at the University of Twente in the Netherlands. His research interests include an inventory of forests assisted by remote sensing, and he is currently researching different remote sensing applications to forestry, including (1) manipulation and processing of large-area remote sensing data sets to characterize, map, and monitor changes of forest structural heterogeneity, forest height, and forest area. (2) Tree species discrimination using airborne LiDAR, multi-, and hyper-spectral data sets. (3) Integration of various remotely sensed and field data sets at varying scales of observation into forest inventories, and (4) quantification of forest ecosystem dynamics, natural and anthropogenic forest disturbances from field and remotely sensed data.

Professor Eliakimu Zahabu has been a Professor at the Forestry, Sokoine University of Agriculture since 2002 and the Coordinator at the National Carbon Monitoring Centre since 2016. He received his BS and MS degrees in Forestry from Sokoine University of Agriculture in 1996 and 2001, respectively, and his PhD degree at the University of Twente. He was a leader in many projects, such as the National Carbon Monitoring Centre, which developed the Tanzania Forest Reference Emission Level and Enhanced the MRV of the Tanzania Research Project. His works on forestry issues and climate change have resulted in 46 publications.