Prof. Linxiu Zhang, TWAS Fellow, UNEP senior staff and Director, UNEP-International Ecosystem Management Partnership (UNEP-IEMP), a joint center between the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) and UNEP. She is also leading the implementation of a UNEP flagship programme focusing on the nexus of climate change, ecosystem services and sustainable livelihoods (CEL) through South-South cooperation. Prof. Zhang used to be the Director/deputy director of Center for Chinese Agricultural Policy of CAS. She is now affiliated with the Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research of CAS as a senior research fellow. Her previous fields of research covered policy relevant studies on rural development, particularly on public goods and services provision, early childhood development, poverty alleviation and sustainable livelihoods, climate change adaptation and gender.