UNU Rector Hans van Ginkel has announced the appointment of Dr. Karl Harmsen as Director of UNU Institute for Natural Resources in Africa (UNU-INRA).

Dr. Harmsen (pictured right) was Director of the Centre for Space Science and Technology Education in Asia and the Pacific (CSSTEAP), affiliated with the UN Office for Outer Space Affairs in Dehradun, India from from 2002-2005. Before that, he was Professor of Environmental Systems Analysis (2001–2002) and Rector (1997–2000) at the International Institute for Geo-information Science and Earth Observation (ITC), Enschede, The Netherlands.

Previous career experience includes working with the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) as executive director of the West and Central African Programs in Niamey, Niger (1994–1996), as director of the ICRISAT Resource Management Program in Hyderabad, India (1992–1994) and as director of the Institute for Soil Fertility, Haren, The Netherlands (1986–1992).

Based in Accra, Ghana, UNU-INRA works with African universities and research institutions to generate knowledge and train people to develop, adapt, and disseminate technologies that advance food security and promote the conservation and efficient use of the continent’s natural resources.

UNU-INRA, the only UNU RTC/P based in Africa, began operating in April 1990. In addition to its headquarters in Accra, UNU-INRA maintains operating units on mineral resources at the School of Mines, University of Zambia, on application of computer technology to the management of natural resources at the University of Yaounde 1, Cameroon, and on socio-economic aspects of natural resources management at the University of Cocody, Côte d'Ivoire.

"Identifying the need for training and research in support of sustainable development in Africa must be a bottom-up process," says Dr. Harmsen. "By working at the local level, with those most affected, real-life problems will come up that may not be the sort of thing scientists can dream up from behind their desk. I strongly support this kind of bottom-up, upscaling approach."

He said that a a lack of well-trained personnel in government agencies, NGOs, farmers’ organizations, and elsewhere is a persistent problem. "This is the sort of training need that UNU-INRA can assist with – either by directly addressing a particular training need or by playing a facilitating role in close collaboration with other partners."