The Team
Avalon is an international foundation. Its main office is based in Iens, the Netherlands.
Martien LankesterAs a medical student in Amsterdam, I became convinced of the need to stimulate organic food and farming for the benefit of nature, the environment and health. This led me to establish an organic restaurant. In 1977 I set up an organic farm and an organic food shop next to my medical practice, and I also started promoting the conversion of farmers in the Dutch province of Fryslân. With a nature conservation organisation (one of) the first agri-environmental programme(s) in the Netherlands was developed. In 1991 I founded the Avalon Foundation in order to promote similar activities in Central and Eastern Europe and beyond. Networking is in my blood, and my experience in the field of institutional development, (co-)organising international conferences and project financing comes in handy. Current issues to be further developed are the relation of organic farming and food with nature conservation, climate change and energy use.
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Associate Experts
Dr. Darko Znaor
Dr. Darko Znaor is one of the leading experts on environmentally friendly agriculture in the transition countries. He has been providing international consultancy services in this field since 1992 and has substantial international experience with training, research, policy advice and cooperation with NGOs and local communities. He has written a number of publications on environmentally friendly agriculture and is specialized in scenario studies which help countries understand what the economic consequences are in adopting full scale sustainable agricultural practice.
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Ernest A. van den Boezem (MSc)
Ernest van den Boezem has a wide knowledge of sustainable agricultural systems, agricultural knowledge transfer and agricultural entrepreneurship development. He is a specialist in curriculum development and competence-based education and has written a variety of project proposals, textbooks, teacher and extension materials, etc. He has worked on both national and international projects as a teacher, managing director, trainer, extensionist and consultant.
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Jelmer Buijs (MSc)
Jelmer Buijs is a foremost expert on pasture management and the processes connected with the protection and use of steppe pastures in Europe and Central Asia. He has in-depth knowledge of climatic, terrestrial and biotic factors influencing the state of steppes and soil in general. This led to his participation in multiple international projects on nature conservation, agricultural development and poverty alleviation. Over the years he has become an experienced trainer, conducting workshops, seminars and courses on steppe management, sustainable development, cutting-edge agricultural development and related subjects in developing nations.
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Dr. Mark Redman
Dr. Mark Redman has worked on more than 55 projects in over 15 countries with particular specialism in the provision of technical assistance in the development of agri-environment schemes (including organic farming), rural development plans and environmental legislation in EU candidate/accession countries and others - notably Bulgaria, Croatia, northern Cyprus, Estonia, Lithuania, Malta, Moldova, Romania, Serbia, Turkey and Ukraine. He is an experienced researcher, teacher and trainer when it comes to rural development, agriculture and environmental protection and has highly developed skills in project formulation, planning/inception, management and evaluation.
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