Dr. LIWENGA Emma Teresa

Dr. Emma Teresa Liwenga (PhD) is the Executive Director and chief executive and legal representative of the Lake Tanganyika Authority (LTA), appointed according to Article 26 of the Convention on Sustainable Management of the Lake Tanganyika. She provides strategic leadership and oversees the overall management of the LTA Secretariat, ensuring the effective implementation of the Convention, and LTA Strategic Action Programme for the Protection of Biodiversity and Sustainable Management of Natural Resources in Lake Tanganyika and its Basin. She is also responsible for implementation of the decisions of the LTA statutory bodies, namely, the Conference of Ministers and the Management Committee.

Before join LTA, Dr. Emma Teresa Liwenga worked as a Senior Lecturer and Research Fellow with the Institute of Resource Assessment (IRA) of the University of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania from 1991 to 2021. She further worked at the Vice President’s Office, from May 2021 to March 2026, providing advisory roles on environment and climate change issues. Dr. Emma Teresa Liwenga has considerable experience in conducting applied research and analysis of the linkages between Rural Livelihoods Systems and Natural Resources Management. She has considerable regional experience in the various agro-ecological zones, such as coordinating climate change adaptation research, to strengthen the adaptive capacity of rural communities in the context of Climate Variability & Change, under the International Development Research Centre (IDRC) CCAA (Climate Change Adaptation Africa) Program. In addition, she has further been involved in review of climate change adaptation policies on agricultural systems at regional (Eastern Africa).

Dr. Liwenga has also served as member of the UNDP National Steering Committee (NSC) for Small Grants programme in Tanzania. She was accordingly involved in evaluation of various development projects and also conducting field appraisals under UNDP.Dr. Emma Teresa Liwenga has also worked with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), which is an Intergovernmental Body of the United Nations as a Lead Author (LA) and Coordinating Lead Author (CLA). She has been among the Lead Authors (LA) for Food Systems IPCC – AR5: Climate Change and Land: An IPCC Special Report on Climate Change, Desertification, Land Degradation, Sustainable Land Management, Food Security, and Greenhouse Gas Fluxes in Terrestrial Ecosystems (2019). She has also served as a Coordinating Lead Author (CLA) for IPCC – AR6 – Report, Chapter 8: Poverty, Livelihoods and Sustainable Development. In: Climate Change (2022): Impacts, Adaptation, and Vulnerability. Contribution of Working Group II to the Sixth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.