Dr. Theodore Trefon studies natural resource governance at the Belgian Royal Museum for Central Africa and is currently on sabbatical at the World Resources Institute in Washington DC. Author of Congo’s Environmental Paradox (2016) and Congo Masquerade (2011), he lectures at the Ecole Régionale Postuniversitaire d'Aménagement et de Gestion Intégrés des Forêts et Territoires Tropicaux (Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo).

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While diplomacy and partnerships can foster progress, they will only be effective when scientific research is embedded in an environment of good governance and functioning democratic institutions.