I work almost exclusively in situations where there is conflict between conservation aims and the livelihood interests of local people. My research is interdisciplinary, with a focus on outputs that are accessible to a wide range of stakeholders and result in change on the ground. You can learn more about specific projects below, and access publications through ResearchGate or ORCID.
I am interested in how we can increase tolerance for lions and other large carnivores among agropastoralists in Tanzania who are trying to support their families in an increasingly wild environment. I'm currently beginning my work with the Center for Human-Carnivore Coexistence at Colorado State University, the Salerno Lab, and non-profit partner Lion Landscapes. Drawing on social psychology, behavioral economics and other fields, my research is centered on uncovering the drivers of predator tolerance and intolerance, and exploring the potential for social transmission of tolerant attitudes. I'm also interested in the interactions between economic shocks and tolerance, and to what degree personal traits moderate the impacts of shocks. I plan to use that evidence to test the efficacy of specific social or economic interventions in increasing tolerance for coexisting with large carnivores. Building our collective understanding of these issues could provide important insights on how we can increase the capacity of agropastoralists to adapt to an increasingly resource-constrained future, both in Tanzania and around the world.
While tree-planting is often touted as a win-win climate solution, in many developing countries, governments are attempting to establish or re-establish forests on public land that provides subsistence resources for communities. Learning from these conflicts is critical to the success of future reforestation efforts, and Malawi— one of the poorest countries in the world— provides an excellent case study. Under the Bonn Challenge, the government committed to reforest over 30% of the country by 2030, but at least in the south, few trees planted under government projects survive. To understand why these efforts fail and how to turn the tide, I organized eight focus groups with stakeholders that represented a spectrum of agency and economic security to address two questions: What has kept forest restoration in Malawi from being socially or ecologically successful? What is the one thing that will be critical to “get right” in order for future restoration efforts to have socially and ecologically beneficial outcomes?
Citizens and natural resource professionals alike emphasized that until Malawi’s government invests in economic development in forest-adjacent communities, the poor have no back-up livelihood strategies except exploiting forest lands, undermining reforestation. Multiple groups agreed that training and funding for entrepreneurs, access to improved agricultural technologies, and alternative employment opportunities were crucial to poverty alleviation. This study suggests that diverse stakeholders shared a lot of common ground when they envisioned solutions, and that giving the poor a voice in reforestation planning is imperative to addressing underlying socioeconomic problems, preempting conflicts, and poising future reforestation efforts for success in drawing down carbon.
This study was published in People and Nature as an Open Access article, and is free to download.