Frans Bongers is professor of tropical forest ecology at Wageningen University. He is a specialist in forest dynamics and succession, forest regeneration and rehabilitation/restoration. He has 30 years of experience, mainly in Latin America (Mexico, Bolivia, Guyanas), West Africa (Cote d’Ivoire, Cameroon, Ghana) and the Horn of Africa. He leads international research programmes with a focus on(applied) forest ecology, directed at improved forest management and sustainable forest use.