Vice President, Malaysian Academy of Sciences
Member of the IAC Board
SALLEH Mohd Nor is Vice President of the Malaysian Academy of Sciences. Born in Negeri Sembilan in 1940, Dr. Salleh obtained a B.Sc. Forestry at Adelaide University and a Diploma in Forestry from the Australian Forestry School, Canberra on a Colombo Plan scholarship in 1964. Upon returning home, he joined the Forestry Department, Peninsular Malaysia where he rose to head the Forest Inventory Unit and was responsible for the first national forest inventory. He then pursued a Diploma in Photo Interpretation at The International Centre for Aerial Survey and Earth Sciences in Delft, Holland in 1969, and later a M.Sc. and Ph.D. at Michigan State University in 1974 and 1977 respectively. In 1994, he followed a three month Advanced Management Program at Harvard Business School, USA.In 1977, he was appointed as the Director of the Forest Research Institute Kepong and when it became a statutory body in 1985, Dr. Salleh became its first Director General until he retired in 1995. He was an Adjunct Professor at University Putra Malaysia from 1994 until 1996 and an Adjunct Professor at University Malaysia Sabah since 2001.Dr. Salleh is active in many organisations both locally and internationally, notably as President of the Malaysian Nature Society (MNS) since 1978 and President of the International Union of Forest Research Organisations (IUFRO) from 1991 to 1995. He is a member of the National Environment Quality Council since 1995. He is also a member of the Advisory Committees of the National Science Centre, the National Planetarium and the National Park, and the Programme Advisory Committee of the Palm Oil Research Institute of Malaysia. He was a member of the inaugural Malaysian Human Rights Commission from April 2000 to 2002.Internationally, he is a member of the Board of Forest Trends. He was Chairman of the Asia Pacific Association of Forest Research Institutions (APAFRI), member of the Panel of Eminent Experts on Ethics in Food and Agricultural of FAO (2000), the Scientific and Technical Advisory Panel (STAP) of the Global Environmental Facility (GEF), the Chairman of the IUCN East Asia Group on the Sustainable Use Initiative, the Board of Trustees of the International Network on Bamboo and Rattan (INBAR), Board member of CIFOR, member (1998) and Chairman (2003) of the FAO High-Level Panel of External Experts on Forestry and a member of the Independent Panel to review the Tropical Forestry Action Plan (TFAP).