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Lindon Pronto

Lindon is Senior Expert at the European Forest Institute primarily tasked with enhancing wildfire management capacity in Germany. He holds dual B.A. degrees in Environmental Analysis and German Studies from Pitzer College and a M.Sc. in Environmental Governance from Freiburg University, Germany. For 17+ years Lindon has engaged in wildfire suppression, research, management, training, capacity building, and policy support in 12+ countries in the Americas, Europe, Africa, and Southeast Asia.

Lindon started as a wildland firefighter (U.S. Forest Service 2007-2014) on the Tahoe and Eldorado National Forests on handcrews, engine, and helitack crews fighting fires across 8 states. In 2012 he received the Regional Forester’s Honor Award in Emergency Response and his unit received special recognition by President Obama.

Between 2015 and 2019 Lindon worked as a scientific aid/fire management officer at the Global Fire Monitoring Center, Max Planck Institute (Fire Ecology Working Group), based in Freiburg, Germany. There he was instrumental in preparing/executing the 6th International Wildland Fire Conference in Pyeongyang, South Korea (2015); helping to establish the Regional Fire Management Resource Center – Southeast Asia (2016-2018); helping coordinate activities of the Global Wildland Fire Network, International Wildfire Preparedness Mechanism and UNISDR Wildland Fire Advisory Group (2015-2019); and, chairing the Landscape Fire Crisis Mitigation Thematic Working Group of the FIRE-IN project, the first European Fire and Rescue Innovation Network (2017-present).

Lindon has also been contracted by agencies, NGOs, and international organisations: In Indonesia (ECO-Consult/German Corporation for International Cooperation); in the Democratic Republic of Congo (Lernen-Helfen-Leben; U.S. Forest Service International Programs/USAID) and in Europe (Pau Costa Foundation, Spain). Lindon offers thematic expertise to the European Commission, government agencies, the private sector, and regularly lectures at fire departments, trade fairs, conferences, schools and universities; as a subject matter expert, he has contributed to more than 50 print, radio, and TV publications/broadcasts internationally.