My research interest is about understanding land change dynamics in coupled human-environment systems to inform policies and interventions toward sustainable development outcomes. Specifically, I am investigating the biophysical and socio-econo-political drivers and impacts of the profound agricultural transformation of tropical forest landscapes in Southeast Asia, integrating various quantitative and qualitative approaches in land change studies. I am also particularly interested in developing approaches using geospatial tools for analysing agricultural expansion and intensification in tropical landscapes; and in simulating future land change scenarios to assess impacts of agricultural expansion and intensification using cellular automata and agent-based modeling. My geographic region of interest is Southeast Asia.
Themes
Telecoupling of land use systems, Land governance, Land change trade-offs for ecosystem services and biodiversity , Land use and conflict
Based on their analysis of the complex and interacting drivers of forest change in the Himalayas, the authors highlight five thematic focus areas to curtail forest loss and promote recovery in this article in Global Environmental Change.
Mangroves are one of the world's most threatened ecosystems, and Myanmar is regarded as the current mangrove deforestation hotspot globally. This study by GLP Member Jose Don T De Alban demonstrates the importance of multi-sensor satellite data for national-level mangrove change assessments, along with gross land cover transition analyses to assess landscape dynamics as well as prioritise threats and interventions in an effort to develop holistic strategies that aim to conserve important habitats.
This study, which included work by GLP Members Roman Carrasco and Jose Don T. De Alban, investigated the dynamics and drivers of informal gold mining in northern Myanmar to shed light on the conditions needed for alternative livelihood and enforcement interventions to succeed. It was published in Conservation Science and Practice.
Our approach of integrating complementary analytical frameworks to identify and understand land-cover regime shifts can help policymakers to preempt future regime shifts in Tanintharyi (Myanmar), and can be applied to the study of land change in other regions.
