Dr. Linxiu Zhang, Director of UN Environment Programme-International Ecosystem Management Partnership (UNEP-IEMP), is a UNEP senior staff. She also served as a fellow of The World Academy of Sciences (TWAS) and the adjunct professor at Colleges of Economics and Management of University of Chinese Academy of Sciences. Before joining the UN, she was the senior research fellow of Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research of Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) and the Director/Deputy Director of Center for Chinese Agricultural Policy of CAS.

Dr. Zhang has rich professional experience on policy relevant studies on poverty alleviation, regional inequality, sustainable rural development, labor market development, public investments, the economics of rural education and healthcare, integrated resource management, and climate change adaptation. She has published more than 280 articles in international journals and received numerous awards. She is also experienced in working with international organizations and has promoted close collaborations with the World Bank and other UN agencies, such as FAO, UNDP, IFAD and WFP. Dr. Zhang holds a Ph.D. in Agricultural Economics from the University of Reading, UK, an M.S. in Agricultural Economics from the University of the Philippines at Los Banos, Philippines, and a B.S. in Agricultural Economics and Management from the Nanjing Agricultural University, China.