Dr. Jagmohan Maini, or Jag as he prefers to be known, recently stepped down as the Chair of CIFOR's Board of Trustees, following several years of dedicated service between 1999 and 2003.
CIFOR went through many changes during this period, including a complete restructuring, the selection of a new Director General and dealing with a looming budget crisis.
When asked about his main achievements, Jag responded by saying “The question correctly identifies the internal challenges that CIFOR was facing. But there were also major external developments underway that we needed to understand and respond to, for example a major restructuring of the CGIAR system as well as rapid shifts in the priorities of the donor community.”
CIFOR’s current Director General, David Kaimowitz, says Jag has been a major influence in shaping CIFOR’s direction. “He was able to guide both the Board of Trustees and the centre itself, and he played a central role in making sure that CIFOR's research really responded to what policymakers need,” Kaimowitz said.
Kaimowitz’s predecessor, Jeff Sayer, is equally complimentary of Jag’s influence, saying Jag understands forest politics better than anyone while still remaining a scientist at heart. “He has steered the international debate through a turbulent decade and is very sensitive to all of the nuances that establish the positions of the main countries,” Sayer said.
When Jag became Board Chair he focused on consolidating CIFOR's strengths and defining its future strategic directions. “I think we were quite successful in that,” Jag said. “One of the most challenging tasks facing a Board of Trustees is selecting a new Director General. The Board was unanimous in selecting David Kaimowitz and I firmly believe we chose the best candidate.”
Gill Shepherd, former Board Member and Senior Research Associate with the UK’s Overseas Development Institute, said that Jag's most important task was to oversee the complex process by which the Board selected a Director General to replace Jeff Sayer.
“He led this task with discretion and rigour … and we undoubtedly ended up with the best candidate through his leadership,” Shepherd said.
As for his other achievements, Jag believes they include influencing CIFOR to increase its efforts in countries with low forest cover; connecting CIFOR with international forest policy deliberations at the UN and emphasizing the need to assess the impact of CIFOR's work on forest priorities identified by donors and the international community.
“The qualities that helped Jag in leading the UN Forum on Forests from New York were always apparent in his Board Chair style: diplomacy, a capacity to listen to all views, but an overall clarity of vision about where he wanted a process to go in the end,” Shepherd said.
Despite his success, Jag still has some regrets. “I did not succeed in adequately impressing many CIFOR researchers with the critical need to explicitly relate their work to the areas of priority concern identified in intergovernmental forest policy deliberations,” Jag said.
David Kaimowitz said that when he first became Director General, Jag emphasized to him that people were going to be asking the hard questions about what CIFOR had achieved. “That concern led us to do much more to document our accomplishments and to ensure all of our research really did focus on things that might have a major impact,” said Kaimowitz.
Jag’s leadership has also impressed colleagues at the national level. Dr Hadi Pasaribu, the Head of the Forest Research and Development Agency in Indonesia's Ministry of Forestry said that Jag brought subtle but important changes to CIFOR's role as an international forest research center.
“At a time when forest resources, especially in Indonesia, are in such a disturbing state, Jag brought an enlightened vision on how CIFOR could fulfill its role of keeping all stakeholders informed. This was inspirational for me as the host country representative at CIFOR Board meetings in Bogor,” Pasaribu said.
Jag’s commitment to CIFOR has enured a smooth transition between Board Chairs. His replacement, Angela Cropper, co-chair of the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment Panel, said she has worked with Jag in a range of capacities before joining him on CIFOR’s Board.
“But it was in serving on the Board of CIFOR that I have had the deepest association with Jag Maini. When I joined the Board he was not yet its Chairperson, but his outreach and help in orientation as a more grounded colleague was of immense value to me,” Cropper said.
Cropper most remembers Jag for his advocacy on behalf of the world’s dry forests, his emphasis on forests and poverty, and his insistence that CIFOR must do research that matters.
“His guidance to me in preparing to take over the responsibility of chairing the CIFOR Board has been collegial and nurturing in a big-brotherly sort of way. I welcome it. And I thank him for the role model that he provides,” Cropper said.
Now, without any employment-related pressures, Jag is free to work on issues that are important to him, like strengthening regional cooperation and giving guest lectures at universities.
“I am also an Adjunct Professor at the University of Toronto, where I pursue research on international cooperation and international negotiations related to forests. I can now write and most importantly spend more time with my family. Of course I will be in close touch with CIFOR and assist in whatever way I can,” Jag said. (PS, GC)