Julien KABALAKO

Environmental Economist — REDD+ Governance and Project Management Expert

Julien Kabalako Mbuku is an environmental economist and a professional in project management, REDD+ governance, the green economy and natural resource management. With over 15 years of experience, he has technical expertise in environmental and social assessment, restructuring and capacity building, and business administration.

He holds a Bachelor’s degree (Bac+5) in Economics and Project Management from the Catholic University of Congo (UCC, 2009), following an undergraduate degree in Development Economics (UCC, 2007) and a baccalaureate in philosophy from the Saint Peter Canisius Faculty of Kimwenza, affiliated with the Pontifical Gregorian University of Rome (2002). He is currently pursuing a postgraduate diploma (DEA) in Environmental Sciences and Technologies at the University of Kinshasa (UNIKIN, 2025-2027).

Since December 2023, he has been a programme assistant at the Coordination Unit of the Forest Investment Program (UC-PIF), supporting the Mai-Ndombe emissions reduction purchase agreement (ERPA). He previously worked as a consultant for the World Bank and for FONAREDD/UNEP on compliance with REDD+ safeguards conditioning the DRC’s access to carbon markets (2021-2023). From 2013 to 2019, he coordinated at the national level the Renewed REDD+ Climate Working Group (GTCRR), a network bringing together more than 560 Congolese environmental civil society organizations, in partnership with UNDP and the Rainforest Foundation Norway. He was also an expert on the committee monitoring the environmental and social aspects of REDD+ at the National REDD Coordination (2010-2014), and a member of the DRC’s delegation of negotiators to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (2010-2019).

His career also includes environmental and social monitoring of several World Bank-funded infrastructure projects in Kinshasa (drinking water supply, distribution networks), as well as independent consulting assignments (CADICEC, NOVACEL, National Coordination of the Forest Investment Program, FAO). A co-founding member of the GTCRR and of the Congo Environmental Training and Social Integration Centre (CAFISCO) since 2009, and a member of the Climate, Land, Ambition and Rights Alliance (CLARA) since 2015, he has represented the DRC at several Conferences of the Parties on climate change (Paris, Marrakech, Bonn, Madrid) and has field experience across all 26 provinces of the DRC as well as in several countries in Europe, Africa and Asia.

Expertise

Carbon finance, REDD+ governance, environmental and social assessment, project management

Services offered

• REDD+ governance and carbon finance consulting
• Environmental and social monitoring and evaluation of projects (World Bank, UNDP, bi/multilateral donors)
• Capacity building for civil society organizations