Edi Purwanto is currently the Director of Tropenbos Indonesia (TI) since 2014 and as a project leader for a number of projects implemented by TI, among others: Working Landscape, Green Livelihood Alliance and MoMo4C. These projects are parts of a global program under Tropenbos International while some are under consortium of partners in other international organisations such as WWF Netherlands, IUCN Netherlands and Milieudefensie. As a project leader Dr Purwanto Has led and oversight overall strategies and activities during the implementation of various projects covering stakeholder forum strengthening, natural resource spatial planning improvement in conservation area, climate change mitigation and adaptation goals, capacity building, government lobby and advocacy for policy improvement, livelihood development, and assistance of indigenous and local community on sovereign control. Aside from his management functions, Dr Purwanto is also an expert in natural resource governance, and he has been leading the formulation and management of multi-stakeholder platform (MSP) of Ketapang Essential Ecosystem Area (KEE) Forum and led the development of the KEE protection and rehabilitation action plan together with all KEE partners.
Edi has been involved in leading NGOs Programs since 2002, starting as a Program Manager of Wildlife Conservation Society Indonesia Program (WCS-IP) from 2002 until 2004 and then Director of Operation Wallacea Trust (OWT) from 2004 to 2013. He led various conservation programs, natural resource management and nature conservation activities based on the community of Lambusango Forest Conservation Program in Buton, Southeast Sulawesi. He has also been involved in the National Program for Community Empowerment on Natural Resource Management/PNPM-Green in Southeast Sulawesi, South Sulawesi, West Sulawesi, West Sumatra and Bengkulu Provinces, and AGFOR Program with ICRAF in Southeast Sulawesi.
He is a graduate of Forest Resources Conservation, Faculty of Forestry, Bogor Agricultural University (IPB) in 1986, Master in Watershed Management and Conservation from International Institute for Aerospace Survey and Earth Sciences (ITC), Enschede, the Netherlands in 1990; and PhD in Faculty of Earth and Life Sciences, Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam (VUA) in 1999.