Executive Secretariat

Dr. Elen Lemaître-Curri is an agronomist, specialized in agricultural development and environmental policies, with a diploma from AgroParisTech, France, and a doctorate in public policy, from the School of Public Policy and Administration at Carleton University, Canada. Her doctoral research focused on agri-environmental incentive program design and farmers’ motivations to participate.

Over almost 30 years of experience, she aimed at bridging science, practice and policy, through multi-actor dialogue. She worked for the Investment Center of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), cooperating with international donors in the development of investment programs. For the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs, she supported land tenures policies in Burkina Faso. At the French General Commissariat for Sustainable Development, from 2009 to 2014, she was head of office for Global Public Goods, working on climate, biodiversity and forest policies in inter-departmental and multi-actor settings. From 2017 to 2020, she led the Blue Plan (‘Plan Bleu’) for the environment and development in the Mediterranean, a non-profit organization supporting science-based decision-making and foresight. From 2020 to 2025, she was Deputy director of the Mediterranean Agronomic Institute of Montpellier (CIHEAM Montpellier), with a focus on project management through quality-certified processes, and agroecology. Since January 2026, she is seconded by the French Ministry of Agriculture, as Executive Secretary of the International “4 per 1000 Initiative: Soils for Food Security and Climate”.

From September 2016 to December 2025, Paul LUU has been seconded by the French Ministry of Agriculture and Food as Executive Secretary of the international Initiative “4 per 1000” ‘Soils for Food Security and Climate’, launched at the UNFCCC COP 21 in Paris. As of January 1st, 2026, he became Honorary President of the “4 per 1000” Initiative.

Ms. Béatrice Breton-Askar, Director of Strategic Partnerships & Global Outreach, is responsible for strategic partnerships, funder engagement and advocacy for the international “4 per 1000” Initiative. Her role within the Executive Secretariat consists in developing networks, partnerships and looking for funding for the sake of “4 per 1000”. She has a dual Franco-American background; she studied economics, management and international relations at ESC Rennes, France, and at Clemson University, USA, where she obtained an MBA. In 2021, she graduated from UNSSC (United Nations System Staff College) by obtaining the PACCDA (The Paris Agreement on Climate Change as a Development Agenda) Certification. She is currently employed by the Alliance of Bioversity International & CIAT, being fully dedicated to the international “4 per 1000” Initiative. Prior to this, she devoted her career during 18 years to strategic marketing responsibilities in global agrifood private sector companies, then worked at CGIAR System Organization as Funder Engagement Senior Officer, in the Strategic Partnerships team. She is based at the “4 per 1000” Executive Secretariat office in Montpellier, France.

Dr. Claudia Schepp is a senior officer in the international Climate division at the German Federal Agency for Agriculture and Food (BLE).​

In this position she supports the Executive Secretariat of the “4 per 1000” Initiative, where she is responsible for the coordination of the Scientific and Technical Committee of the Initiative as well as policy advocacy activities.

Claudia has always been passionate about soils and the central role they play for ecosystems and society. Prior to her current position, she worked in interdisciplinary research projects in Burkina Faso (WASCAL) and Uganda (GlobE-wetlands in East Africa), where she earned her phd in soil hydrology.

Samuel Ottnad was born in Freiburg im Breisgau (Germany) on 14 September 1992. He graduated in Crop Science at the University of Bonn in early 2021 with a Master thesis on the “Effect of soil nitrate dynamics, under alternate drying & wetting, on nitrogen losses and yield of lowland rice in Burkina Faso”.

Since July 2021, he has been working in Division 334 (Climate, World Nutrition, International Cooperation) of the german Federal Office for Agriculture and Food (BLE), where he is part of the Division’s international climate team supporting the Executive Secretariat of the “4 per 1000” Initiative.

He currently lives in Bonn.

Marc BERNARD contributes to the coordination of the network of the “4 per 1000” initiative. He has been instrumental in developing the global strategy and operational framework of the initiative and is responsible for knowledge management and the management of the electronic platform.

Marc BERNARD is an agronomist and soil scientist, graduated from the Technical University of Munich. He conducted research in the tropics for many years and led interdisciplinary research programs.

He lives in Benin (West Africa) and works as a consultant for African Innovation Services (AFRIS), an NGO that provides the electronic platform.

Ms. Catalina Berger joined the “4 per 1000” Executive Secretariat in March 2025.

Catalina holds a Diploma in Geography and started her career at GIZ, supporting small and medium sized businesses in enhancing their environmental performance. From 2005 to 2009, she was based in Pretoria, South Africa, to steer networks and advocate in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region on sustainable production and intraregional trade. Coming back to Germany, Catalina decided to become a freelance trainer and focused her activities on climate change adaptation. For more than a decade, she worked as a trainer, moderator and advisor on this topic, mainly in African countries.

From 2019 to 2022 Catalina worked as a senior programme manager in an international agriculture consulting in Bonn, backstopping agriculture projects in Africa. Mid-2022 she joined the Federal Office for Agriculture and Food in Bonn to coordinate a research and innovation programme on climate protection in agriculture. Still active in this role, she now also supports the Executive Secretariat of the international “4 per 1000” Initiative to further fulfil their upcoming tasks.