Dr. Linxiu Zhang, a TWAS Fellow and UNEP senior official, is Director of UNEP-IEMP, a joint center of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) and UNEP. She leads UNEP’s flagship programme on climate, ecosystem services, and livelihoods through South-South cooperation. She is also a professor at UCAS. Her research focuses on poverty-environment dynamics, sustainable livelihoods, climate adaptation, and gender.