With a Master’s degree in organizational management, specializing in environmental sciences, and a diploma in agricultural engineering, specializing in plant biology, Sam’s career has seen him acquire solid experience in natural resource governance, particularly with regard to stakeholder engagement in the sustainable management of these resources, as well as extensive experience in the creation and management of protected areas and complex landscapes, particularly in the countries of the Congo Basin and the African Great Lakes. He worked successively for the local Gabonese NGO Brainforest, which defends the rights of local communities and indigenous peoples to access and control natural resources, for WCS and WWF programs in Congo and, more recently, for WWF-Belgium. Sam is originally from Gabon but he has a French citizenship and he is based in Belgium.