BRIAN ROBINSON
Associate Professor, Department of Geography, McGill University
COLLABORATOR, LANDSCAPE 1 · COLLABORATOR, THEME 1 · CO-LEAD, THEME 2 · COLLABORATOR, SYNTHESIS TEAM · SCIENTIFIC ADVISORY COMMITTEE
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I look at how people meet their needs through use of ecosystems and resources, and the role this plays in development in poorer regions of the world. My research interests began as an early desire to experience other cultures and ways of living, and wanting a better understanding of how people are tied to the environment. Just after college I joined the US Peace Corps and moved to China, and since then have been working on these kinds of development issues. I think about questions like: Why do communities create management institutions? How do these impact resource use and livelihoods? How do people use ecosystems to support their livelihoods? What parts of the landscape are most critical for that support? How does household behavior interact with policy intentions, for instance in payment for ecosystem services programs? My research methods draw from ecology, environmental and development economics, development geography, and geographic information sciences. Using an institutional and economic lens, I try to measure and demonstrate the interactions between livelihoods, the natural environment and the institutions that govern them.
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