Kenyan Ambassador to France, Prof. Judi Wakhungu, has been appointed to the Board of the Wildlife Conservation and Animal Welfare Organization – the International Fund for Animal Welfare (ifaw).
Prof. Wakhungu is the immediate former Cabinet Secretary in the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources.
During her tenure from 2013 to 2018, she enacted substantive binding laws for the protection of the environment in Kenya including the Climate Change Act 2016 and the Wildlife Conservation & Management Act 2013.
In 2016, Prof. Wakhungu championed the largest ever destruction of ivory and rhino horn in recent history by burning Kenya’s entire stockpile of over 100 tonnes of ivory and rhino horn.
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In 2017, she facilitated the enactment of a nation-wide ban on the use of plastic polythene bags.
Prior to her appointment as Cabinet Secretary, she was the Executive Director of the African Centre for Technology Studies (ACTS) in Nairobi, from 2002 to 2013.
The ACTS is the Nairobi-based international inter-governmental science, technology, and environmental policy think-tank that generates and disseminates new knowledge through policy analysis, capacity building, and outreach.
She spent several years at the Pennsylvania State University, where she served as an Associate Professor, Science, Technology, & Society, and as the Director of the Women in Science and Engineering (WISE) Institute.
Prof. Wakhungu is also a member of the Giants Club, which brings visionary leaders together to support the protection of elephants.
“We have had the pleasure of working with Prof. Wakhungu for many years and she has been present for some of ifaw’s biggest milestones in East Africa, including the signing of the lease agreement for land in Kitenden with the community at Olgulului Ololarashi Group Ranch,” says Azzedine Downes, ifaw’s President and Chief Executive Officer. “We share an equal dedication to and passion for wildlife and are thrilled to welcome her to our Board of Directors.”
Founded in 1969, ifaw rescues wildlife and conserves habitats on land and at sea in over 40 countries.
Their primary mandate in East Africa is wildlife security and habitat protection.
Ifaw has secured 26,000 acres of wildlife habitat to safeguard an elephant migration route between Amboseli and Kilimanjaro National Parks and through our tenBoma project, and are working with partners to protect these elephants from wildlife crime across the greater landscape.
