Mr. Chencho Norbu has a Masters Degree in Science from Cornell University, Ithaca- USA. He completed his Bachelor of Science in Agriculture major in Soil Science from Central Luzon State University, the Philippines, and graduated with cum laude. He served the Ministry of Agriculture and Forests for more than two decades. He was the first Program Director of the National Soil Services Center, and then went to serve as the Director of the Department of Agriculture, and Director General of the Department of Forests and Park Services. He also served as the Secretary to the National Environment Commission Secretariat, and the Secretary to the Ministry of Works and Human Settlement of the Royal Government of Bhutan.

Chencho was one of the review editors of chapter 4- Status and trends of land degradation and restoration and associated changes in biodiversity and ecosystems of Land Degradation and Restoration Assessment Report published by the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES), 2017; and he was also one of the Lead Coordinating Authors of Chapter 7: “The impact of Soil Change on Ecosystem Services”, of the Status of the World’s Soil Resources Report published by the Intergovernmental Technical Panel on Soils (ITPS), FAO, 2015.

Mr. Chencho Norbu was the first Executive Director of the Asian Forest Cooperation

Organization (AFoCO) Secretariat based in Seoul, the Republic of Korea from Jan 2019 through Dec 2020. Chencho is a recipient of the Order of Diplomatic Service Merit, (Heungin medal), from the President of the Republic of Korea in 2021 for his contributions to the Republic of Korea’s ODA projects to improve livelihood of the recipient countries and enhancing friendly relations with them.