Koos Neefjes Email and Phone Number

Koos Neefjes (1959) is the director of Climate Sense (Viet Nam), and expert on climate change and water management. Koos has focused on water management, climate change adaptation, and disaster risk management for most of his career. Since about 2010 he is also working on renewable energy and other greenhouse gas emissions reduction options.Koos holds a Land & Water Use degree from Wageningen University. He has worked in about 30 countries, in both advisory and management positions. He is living in Viet Nam since 2000 where he established Climate Sense in 2016, providing research and advisory services on climate change adaptation and mitigation as well as water management. In recent years he held contracts for analysis of practical water management challenges in the Mekong Delta region, in the context of climate change, sea level rise, and interventions in the upstream river basin. Under different contracts he has researched the “just energy transition” in Viet Nam, and is currently advising the Government on that. He is also leading a team of experts advising on revision of Viet Nam’s Law on Water Resources. In addition, as Climate Sense director, Koos is developing and investing in small scale agriculture - solar Photovoltaic dual land use systems (APV), in the Mekong Delta region. Previously he was Policy Advisor Climate Change with UNDP in Viet Nam, where he also held the position of manager of the Sustainable Development Team (2005-2015). He was representative of Oxfam Hong Kong in Viet Nam and Laos and consultant for other development agencies (2000-2004); Policy Advisor of Oxfam GB, advising staff and partners in numerous countries and including a secondment as manager in a humanitarian crisis (1992-2000); project advisor/manager in Guinea Bissau in a project aiming to improve farmer-managed drainage of paddy fields, as well as researcher, trainer and lecturer in several countries on agrohydrology, sustainable development, climate change, and participatory assessment approaches (1986-1991). Koos has written numerous publications, reports and papers, notably on sustainable livelihoods and climate change. He is fluent in Dutch, English and Portuguese, and speaks several other languages reasonably well, including Vietnamese. He is and has been a board member and advisor of several charities, and active member of various working groups.