Alain Karsenty, an environmental economist, has been a Senior Scientist at CIRAD (Montpellier, France) since 1992. His research and expertise area are focused on economic instruments for the environment. He has extensive knowledge of land tenure, concessions, forest policies, and practices in West & Central Africa and Madagascar, his main fieldwork. As an international consultant for ITTO, the World Bank, the EU, FAO, etc., he participated in several policies and economic reforms processes with national teams in Africa. He is the author of dozens of scientific articles and has co-authored several books and special issues. He is a member of the scientific board of the French GEF (FFEM), of the scientific council of the Nicolas Hulot Foundation, and member of the Board of Directors of ATIBT.