Bernadette Arakwiye manages WRI’s contributions to the African Forest Landscape Restoration Initiative (AFR100). In her previous roles at WRI, she supported restoration monitoring activities in African countries. Before joining WRI, Bernadette conducted environmental research in African landscapes, working as a Research Associate with Conservation International in the USA and as a Research Assistant with the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund International in Rwanda. Bernadette has also supported WRI research projects in Rwanda on a consultancy basis between 2016 and 2020. 

Bernadette has a Ph.D. in Geography from Clark University in Massachusetts; where she received the NASA Earth and Space Science Fellowship to research the dynamics, drivers and ecological outcomes of forest cover change in Western Rwanda. She received an MSc in Environmental Studies from Antioch University New England and a BSc in Biology from the University of Rwanda.