Esteban Toja is joinging the FSC Congo Basin team this January 2021. Mr Toja holds Masters Degrees in Forestry and International Commerce and has extensive experience in the Congo Basin; having worked in Gabon and the Democratic Republic of Congo for large forestry companies including the Danzer Group and Rougier in sustainable forest management and certification roles. As a result, he has a strong understanding of forestry companies in the Congo Basin and has developed relationships with key players within them. His most recent assignment was a mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo, where he was a Technical Assistant in a project to build the capacity building for forestry administration and logging companies. Mr Esteban Toja takes up his role as a Certification Advisor based in Libreville. Initially, he will mainly work with the Government of Gabon, forest concession holders and other partners in Gabon to draw up and co-implement a support programme for those concession holders with prospects for certification. Given the stated policy of the Government of Gabon to achieve forest certification by the end of 2022, we at FSC felt that his appointment would boost the capacity of the Government to implement and realize that policy objective. Esteban is married with two young children. Esteban enjoys hiking in the mountains and is a history book fan. He can be reached at e.toja@fsc.org