Tiina Vähänen currently leads FAO work on REDD+ and national forest monitoring as Deputy Director of the Forestry Policy and Resources Division. She has worked on international forest and natural resources policy issues at FAO since 2001, and she coordinated the organization of the 14th World Forestry Congress in 2015. She has coordinated FAO’s contributions to the global climate change debates, notably UNFCCC, and managed international forest policy issues and FAO contributions to international agreements and the Collaborative Partnership on Forests, a coalition of 14 UN entities (including FAO, UNDP, UN Environment and the secretariats of CBC, UNCCD and UNFCCC) World Bank, CGIAR and other key international agencies. Between 1998 and 2001, Vähänen worked at the UN Headquarters in New York on national reporting system and analyses for the UN Commission on Sustainable Development and then moved to the Secretariat of the UN Forum on Forests dealing with forest monitoring, trade, national policies and international policy coordination. Vähänen is citizen of Finland and “forester” by her education (M.Sc, Forestry and Agriculture). She has also worked in the Finnish forest industry in international trade, and as Senior Adviser for EU and international forest policies at the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry of Finland.