Johan Leenaars
Johan Leenaars holds an MSc in soil science from the Wageningen University, with specializations in soil survey and land evaluation, geomorphology and natural resources management. He joined ISRIC – World Soil Information in 2009 as a soil information specialist and is the legacy soil data officer for the AfSIS and GlobalSoilMap.net projects for which he compiles the Africa Soil Profiles database and contributes to its use. Johan has been involved in research and development projects concerned with sustainable land and water resources management, working with public organizations, commercial firms as well as freelance through long- and short-term assignments in the Netherlands, Belgium, Iran, Jordan, Colombia, Ethiopia, Tanzania, Uganda, Mali, Guinea, Nigeria, Ghana and Burkina Faso. As an agro-pedologist, with a particular focus on sustainable soil fertility management in rainfall insecure landscapes, he has been conducting numerous land-use systems surveys and analyses at various levels of scale, aggregation and complexity, applying functionalities of Geographic Information Systems and dynamic crop growth simulation modelling while attempting to recognize and formalize basic considerations of the African resource poor smallholder to underpin achieving impact.