Zhang Yan

Programme Director, International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), China

HSince July 2012, Zhang Yan has overseen and coordinated the IUCN China programme at country level to ensure the effective and timely development, planning, delivery, monitoring and evaluation of an integrated and coherent programme for IUCN China.

Zhang Yan has over 10 years of experience in a variety of professions, having started his career with the Agricultural Bank of China as an account manager. He subsequently entered the development and NGO sector and undertook several short-term assignments in China, for example with the German Technical Cooperation Agency GTZ and the European Commission. He then worked with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in China as a monitoring and evaluation specialist, and with WWF China as monitoring and evaluation officer and Yangtze eco-region coordinator. In all these roles he demonstrated skills and expertise in the fields of project development, management and monitoring and evaluation.

Zhang Yan holds a bachelor’s degree in agricultural economics from China’s Agricultural University, and an MSc in environmental economics from the University of Gottingen, Germany. He speaks Chinese Mandarin, English and some German.