Deputy Director for Research and Strategy at the Center for International Cooperation in Agricultural Research for Development (CIRAD)
Sélim Louafi is Deputy Director for Research and Strategy at CIRAD. He has worked for over 10 years as a social science researcher in the AGAP research unit, specializing in the genetic improvement and adaptation of tropical and Mediterranean plants. His primary interest lies in the interface between science and policy in the field of life sciences, particularly agricultural biodiversity. From 2016 to 2020, he coordinated a multidisciplinary, multi-stakeholder project on cultivated diversity management systems in West Africa (CoEx). He served as Senior Officer (2007-09) at the Secretariat of the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (FAO), where he was responsible for implementing the Multilateral System of Access and Benefit-sharing. He was a member of the Economic, Ethical, and Social Committee of the High Council on Biotechnologies (2015-2020). He participated in the international panel of the first external evaluation of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES). He regularly collaborates with FAO on issues related to access and benefit-sharing or agricultural biodiversity and global food security.