MFF Coordinator

Dr Steen Christensen is the Coordinator of the Mangroves for the Future (MFF) initiative. He has the overall responsibility for the MFF Secretariat and particular responsibilities to organize RSC meetings and keep RSC members informed of MFF progress, and other key events and issues.

Steen has more than 25 years of experience working with multidisciplinary programmes relating to aquatic resources and ecosystems in Europe, Southeast Asia, Africa and Greenland. He has worked for eight years as an associate professor with the Danish Institute for Fisheries Economics, University of South Jutland (DIFER), and for about 10 years as a senior research scientist with the Institute of Aquatic Resources, the Danish Technical University (DTU-Aqua). Steen has also worked with Danida, the Mekong River Commission and in EU funded projects in Southeast Asia since 1999.

Steen holds a M.Sc in Biology and a PhD in Resource Economics and is about to complete a Masters programme in Disaster Risk Management through Copenhagen (Denmark) and Lund (Sweden) universities, with a thesis analyzing the potential impact of climate change of small-scale fishermen in the Mekong Delta.

Email: steen@mangrovesforthefuture.org
Tel: +66 2 662 4029 ext 122

MFF Senior Advisor

Dr Donald Macintosh is the MFF Senior Advisor after spending four years in the role of MFF Coordinator. In Don’s Over 35 years of experiences working on coastal issues, he has been a Professor (Environment and Development of Tropical Coastal/Marine Ecosystems) at the University of Aarhus in Denmark since 1995 and Director of the Centre for Tropical Ecosystems Research (cenTER Aarhus). 

Donald has managed several large coastal management and capacity building projects in southeast Asia and worked as a Senior Technical Adviser to the project “Support to the Marine Protected Area Network in Viet Nam from 2003 to 2006. Donald has a BSc in Zoology from the University of Aberdeen and a Ph.D. in Mangrove Ecology from the University of Malaya, Malaysia.

Email: donald@mangrovesforthefuture.org
Tel. +66-2- 662 4029 ext. 144.

MFF Programme Manager

Dr Ranjith Mahindapala joined the MFF Secretariat as the Programme Manager in April, 2011. Ranjith has been with IUCN since 1996, initially in the Sri Lanka Office, then in the Regional Office in Bangkok in the capacity of Deputy Regional Programme Coordinator from 2004 – 2008 when the MFF Initiative was launched and was closely associated in the first stages of MFF. In 2008 he returned to the Sri Lanka Office where he functioned as the MFF National Coordinator in addition to his substantive work as the Country Representative of IUCN Sri Lanka. Ranjith is happy to be back in MFF where he will be closely involved with MFF programme management, grant management and monitoring, and programme assessment and reporting. Ranjith is an agriculturist by profession, and is a Fellow of the National Academy of Sciences, Sri Lanka.

Email: ranjith@mangrovesforthefuture.org
Tel. +66-2- 662 4029 ext. 151.

MFF Outreach Countries Coordinator

Ms Maeve Nightingale is the Head of the Coastal and Marine Programme IUCN Asia. Within MFF Maeve is responsible for the coordination of the four MFF outreach countries; Bangladesh, Cambodia, Myanmar and Timor Leste. Maeve will also contribute to the overall work of the MFF secretariat and support MFF’s regional governance programme.

Maeve joined IUCN’s Coastal and Marine Programme under the Ecosystems and Livelihood Group in August 2007 as Project Manager the BMZ funded project ‘Ecologically and socio-economically sound coastal ecosystem rehabilitation and conservation in tsunami-affected countries of the Indian Ocean’ implemented in Thailand and Sri Lanka. In her role as Head of IUCN Asia’s Coastal and Marine Programme Maeve is currently managing the Tomini Bay Sustainable Coastal Livelihoods and Management (SUSCLAM) Project in North Sulawesi and provides management and technical support to other IUCN Coastal Projects.

Maeve holds a BSc in Marine and Freshwater Ecology from the University of London Queen Mary College and an MSc in Fisheries Management and Aquaculture from the University of Bangor, North Wales. Before joining IUCN, Maeve worked in the field of coastal ecosystems management for 13 years, through various government, non-government, and international development organizations in the UK, Philippines, Cambodia, Indonesia, Vietnam and Ghana.

Email: maeve@mangrovesforthefuture.org
Tel: +66 2 662 4029

MFF Regional Knowledge Management Officer

Ms Janalezza Morvenna A. Esteban holds a Bachelor of Science in Environmental Science from the Ateneo de Manila University and a Master in Social Sciences (Geography) from the University of Waikato New Zealand. Jana’s experience in social development and natural resource management enables her to bring worlds together, and achieve goals through cultural understanding. She is a Member of the Philippine Association of Marine Science and also a Member of the New Zealand Geographic Society. Jana’s travel and research enriched her love for mangrove resource management and community development. She continues to live her mangrove journey with IUCN, and looks to a brighter future for mangroves worldwide.

Email: jana@mangrovesforthefuture.org
Tel: +66 2 662 4029 Ext. 108

Media enquiries: media@mangrovesforthefuture.org
Tel: +66 2 662 4029 Ext. 142