Lara Collart

Lara Collart is a development and environmental economist. Her work focuses on conservation, conflict, natural resources and clean cooking in Eastern DRC. Her research examines how natural resources trafficking, such as illegal timber or charcoal production, contributes to forest cover loss and contributes to conflict dynamics. She also studies the impact of regional conflicts on conservation strategies and outcomes. She is involved in several randomized controlled trials (RCTs) in North-Kivu, evaluating whether clean cooking technologies can effectively reduce local charcoal demand and improve conservation outcomes.

Lara holds a BSc and MSc in Economics from Maastricht University, and an advanced MSc in Development Evaluation and Management from the University of Antwerp. She is currently completing her PhD in Economics at the Institute of Development Policy (IOB).