Calestous Juma was born in Busia, Kenya on June 9, 1953. After graduating from Egoji Teachers' Training College in central Kenya in 1974, he became a science teacher. In 1978, he was hired as a full-time science and environment correspondent by the Nairobi-based newspaper The Daily Nation. After working at a nonprofit in Nairobi, he received a doctorate in science and technology policy studies from the University of Sussex in England in 1987. He eventually became a professor of international development at the Kennedy School at Harvard University and directed the Agricultural Innovation in Africa project at the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs.
He was a global advocate for sustainable development in struggling countries. He became the first director of the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity and was the founder of the African Center for Technology Studies in Nairobi, Kenya. He wrote several books including The Gene Hunters and Innovation and Its Enemies. He died from cancer on December 15, 2017 at the age of 64.
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