Mr. Innocent Kabenga
International Union for Conservation of Nature
Mr. Innocent Kabenga is the IUCN Regional Head, Land Systems and Country Representative for Kenya, in charge of programs in Eastern and Southern Africa (ESARO) and Kenya Office; focusing on Land Systems, Ocean and Coastal Resilience, Integrated Water Resources Management, Biodiversity and Climate Change. Before joining IUCN, Mr. Kabenga was the West Africa Sub-Regional Resident Representative of the Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI) covering Togo, Benin and Ghana, focusing on government and key stakeholders’ relations with GGGI. He carried financial resources mobilization to support the Governments to implement their SDGs and NDCs through 9 thematic areas, including sustainable Landscape and Nature Based solutions, Smart Agriculture, and Clean Energy. He has more than 25 years of experience in different positions related to the management of the environment, land systems, transboundary water resources management, climate change and natural resources planning and implementation. Mr. Kabenga was Resident Strategic Advisor of the Rwandan Ministry of Environment when the World Bank was working on Rwandan Natural Capital Accounting. During his more than 15 years of experience in international organizations, he worked in Canada, Rwanda, Ethiopia, Togo, Benin, Ghana and Senegal and he also covered the Southern African region in transboundary water resources management. Mr. Kabenga has a MSc in Urban Planning and Environmental Management (University of Montreal, Canada), a BSc in Economics and Environmental Policy (Brock University, Canada); an Advanced Diploma in Land Management and Valuation (Ardhi University, Tanzania) and he has a Certificate of PhD Courses completed in Environmental Economics from the University of Gothenburg in Sweden. He travelled extensively and speaks fluently French, English, Kiswahili, Kinyarwanda and Kirundi. In his free time, Mr. Kabenga likes reading spiritual and biograph books and worldwide news.