Yuka Makino was appointed FAO Representative to Myanmar on 2 July 2021. Yuka has more than 27 years of international experience in leading programs in natural resources management, rural development, climate change adaptation and disaster risk management. She has developed programs in 24 countries across East Asia, South Asia, Eastern Europe, and Africa.
Prior to this appointment, Yuka was a Senior Forestry Officer and Team Leader for the Water and Mountains team in the Forestry Division at FAO headquarters in Rome, Italy. Before joining FAO, she was a Senior Natural Resources and Disaster Risk Management Officer at the World Bank in Washington DC, USA between 2001 and 2018 with field posting in Dhaka, Bangladesh and Tokyo, Japan. From 1997-1998 she was an Environment Officer for the Japan International Cooperation Agency in Tokyo, Japan and was posted to Kathmandu, Nepal as a Community-based Disaster Risk Management Expert from 1998 to 2000. From 1994-1997, she was the Natural Resources and Environment Officer for the United Nations Development Programme in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.
A national of Japan, Yuka holds a PhD and Master’s Degree in Terrestrial Ecosystem Management from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, USA and a Bachelor’s degree in Environmental Law and Policy from the International Christian University in Tokyo, Japan. Yuka spent 14 years of her childhood in India.