Manuel Narjes

Manuel Narjes is the Lead Environmental and Agricultural Economist of the Multifunctional Landscapes Research Area at the Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT. His work focuses on inclusive business models, markets, and sustainable finance as pathways for climate-resilient rural transformation.

Following his contributions to CGIAR’s Agroecology Initiative on inclusive business models and financial mechanisms, he is now part of the Business Models, Markets, and Sustainable Finance area of work within the CGIAR Science Program on Multifunctional Landscapes. He currently leads JET-AgriSOL, an agrivoltaics project funded by the International Climate Initiative (IKI), which explores how agrivoltaic systems can contribute to a just energy transition, sustainable agricultural production, and inclusive rural development in Colombia.

Mr. Narjes also led the Alliance’s components in the EU-DeSIRA project “Five Great Forests of Mesoamerica,” implemented in collaboration with the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), the Central American Commission for Environment and Development (CCAD), Re:wild, the Mesoamerican Alliance of Peoples and Forests, civil society, and local and Indigenous communities. The project closed successfully after supporting efforts to develop replicable approaches for reducing deforestation, protecting biodiversity, mitigating greenhouse gas emissions, and strengthening sustainable livelihoods and food systems in Mesoamerica’s Five Forests.

An alumnus of the University of Hohenheim, Mr. Narjes was awarded summa cum laude and received the Südwestbank Award for outstanding scientific work for his PhD research on the economics of conserving pollinators in Thailand’s fruit-growing regions. His research assessed the incentives that drive smallholders to engage in traditional beekeeping and conserve native pollinators. His broader research experience includes fieldwork in Bhutan, the Philippines, Guatemala, Honduras, Peru, and Colombia, with a focus on the socio-economic and environmental trade-offs faced by smallholders.