OREANDA-NEWS. December 05, 2013. Dr. Elena Kulikova has been appointed as a Senior Expert in Russian Forest Sector Markets and Policy for the Foresight and Policy Support Programme. She will start her service at European Forest Institute (EFI) in February 2014, as EFI said in the press release received by Lesprom Network. 

The Senior Expert will be responsible for leading and developing policy support and research work in the indicated field in the Foresight and Policy Support Programme. Furthermore, she will also promote and coordinate the Russian forest sector-related policy and research networking activities within EFI, between its member organizations and forest sector stakeholders.

Dr. Kulikova has more than 10 years of experience in working on forest sector governance in Russia. She is currently working as Forest Programme Head at the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) in Russia, an international non-governmental organization working on issues regarding the conservation, research and restoration of the environment. She has previously worked as a Head of Division in the Ministry of Natural Resources of the Russian Federation and as a Deputy Director in the Federal Forestry Service of the Russian Federation, which has provided her with an excellent understanding of the main Russian forest sector stakeholders (industry, NGOs, administration, research), their challenges, needs and expectations.

"EFI has recently increased activities related to the Russian forest sector. Dr. Kulikova’s appointment is strategically important for EFI in its work towards enhancing the cooperation between Russia and EU around forest research and forest-based sector governance", said EFI's Deputy Director Marc Palahi.