Dr. Tariku Olana Jawo: Empowering Communities through Tropical Research: A Commitment to Forest Sustainability and Rural Well-Being

PHOTO CREDIT: Tariku Olana Jawo (left) with fellow recipients of the 2021-23 IPCC/Cuomo Foundation scholarship at the Cuomo Foundation offices, Monaco, 21 October 2021. © Cuomo Foundation

In 2013, the Cuomo Foundation established a trilateral agreement with the Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation and the Intergovernmental Panel for Climate Change. The Cuomo Foundation continues to actively participate in the biennial IPCC Scholarship Programme, which funds research on current and future environmental issues for less developed countries.

Dr. Tariku Olana Jawo, is an Ethiopian researcher specializing in tropical forestry, agroforestry, and sustainable rural development. He was one of the seven climate change doctoral students awarded the prestigious IPCC scholarship, selected and funded by the Cuomo Foundation for the 2021/23 round. Tariku Olana Jawo formerly received his PhD on July 7th,2025 from the Czech University of Life Sciences Prague (CZU). The CZU is one of the leading European institutions in the field of life sciences. Dr. Jawo conducted his doctoral research at Department of Crop Sciences and Agroforestry, Faculty of Tropical Agrisciences, CZU.

Educated in both Ethiopia and Germany, Tariku holds a master’s degree in Tropical Forestry from Technische Universität Dresden, a bachelor’s degree in Natural Resource Management from Hawassa University, and a diploma in Animal Science from Addis Ababa University.

With over a decade of experience, he has played an essential role in integrated rural development projects, often collaborating with the Ethiopian Evangelical Church Mekane Yesus and various international donors. His work has concentrated on enhancing food security, safeguarding natural resources, and improving the livelihoods of rural communities.

Dedicated to sustainable rural transformation, Dr. Jawo advocates for participatory methods that align biodiversity conservation with local development, particularly benefiting smallholder farmers. His research also emphasizes agroforestry, along with strategies for climate change adaptation and mitigation.

Below are links to recent research publications:

• Perennial species diversity, ecosystem carbon stocks and carbon income in coffee-based agroforestry systems along an elevation gradient in South-eastern Ethiopia
• The impact of climate change on coffee production of small farmers and their adaptation strategies: a review