IBS Associations
Environment and Society Program
Research Interests
Political ecology of land use and land cover change; Mining development; Tropical rain forest horticulturalists; Climate change; Resilience and complex adaptive systems
Brief Biography
I have been working since 1998 in highlands Papua New Guinea examining the long term social and ecological impacts of gold mining development on subsistence horticulturalists living adjacent to the Porgera Gold Mine. My work examines resource development conflicts, changes in natural resource management and land tenure, and the impact of capitalist penetration into small-scale societies. I recently studied mitigation and adaptation to severe climatic disruptions from the 2015 El Niño Southern Oscillation in western Enga Province, Papua New Guinea with funding from a NSF RAPID grant. A new project I am developing will examine sustainability and resilience in post-mining communities in Colorado.
