Charles Karangwa

Charles Karangwa is the Global Head of Nature-based Solutions Centre at IUCN. He was recently appointed to advise Her Excellency Razan Mubarak, IUCN President and COP28-COP 29 High Level Climate Champion on Matters related to Nature-based Solutions.

Before joining IUCN Head Quarter in Switzerland, He served as Regional Head of Land Systems, Covering Forests, Drylands, Nature Based Solutions, Sustainable Agriculture at IUCN Africa Region. He also served as Country Representative for Rwanda since January 2016 and was appointed Country Representative for Kenya starting from 1st of June 2022. Charles have led IUCN Work on NbS and Nature Finance, Land restoration in Africa as part of the Decade of Ecosystem Restoration,  Bonn Challenge and AFR100, he engaged both Governments and Non States actors to bring Africa’s commitments to land restoration up to speed since 2016. In 2020, he joined the COP26 High Level Champion team as the lead for land restoration in Africa and worked to engage private sector and other Non-State Actors for an ambitious climate action to Race to Zero and Race to Resilience by 2050. 

 With more than 20 years of Experience in interface between sustainable development, conservation and sustainable finance, Charles focused his work on Climate Change, sustainable agriculture, biodiversity conservation, nature-based solutions, ecosystem restoration, and sustainable finance. 

Charles holds degrees from University of London (SOAS), University of California Berkley, Africa Leadership University School of Business and University of Rwanda. He specialized in Environmental Economics and Global Policy.