Details of Award
NERC Reference : NE/R008574/1
Balancing ecological integrity and infrastructure development: Optimizing the UK's contribution to Sustainable Development Goals in sub-Sahara Africa
Training Grant Award
- Lead Supervisor:
- Dr GJC Hopcraft, University of Glasgow, College of Medical, Veterinary, Life Sci
- Grant held at:
- University of Glasgow, College of Medical, Veterinary, Life Sci
- Science Area:
- Earth
- Terrestrial
- Overall Classification:
- Terrestrial
- ENRIs:
- Biodiversity
- Environmental Risks and Hazards
- Natural Resource Management
- Science Topics:
- Migration
- Behavioural Ecology
- Anthropogenic pressures
- Protected areas
- Conservation Ecology
- Ecosystem function
- Habitat use
- Population modelling
- Population Ecology
- Landscape planning and design
- Nature conservation
- Wildlife corridors
- Landscape Architecture
- Infrastructure Planning
- Planning in developing countries
- Sustainable development
- Spatial Planning
- Abstract:
- Infrastructure development is the cornerstone of poverty-reduction efforts in many developing countries. The UK government alone invests more than GBP12.1 billion annually in international aid. The expansion of infrastructure such as roads, fences and power, however, often conflicts with maintaining the integrity of ecological systems. Consequently, in areas where livelihoods depend on the services of intact ecosystems, forest products, or water resources, development may inadvertently reduce a country's ecological capital and potentially indirectly intensify the poverty spiral. Predicting the impacts of infrastructure development on ecological integrity in these countries has been difficult because a paucity of information about the distributions and movements of wild animal populations. Recent technological advancements in GPS collars have greatly enhanced our ability to track individual animals in the wild, enabling better predictions about how landscape and infrastructure change wildlife movements. The primary objective of the PhD research is to use existing data on migration and animal movement to develop a framework for optimizing internationally-funded infrastructure programmes so they simultaneously achieve ecological goals and human-centred ones. The conflict between development and ecological integrity is particularly applicable to Sub-Sahara Africa, which supports the majority of the world's remaining large mammal species and a rapidly growing human population. Many landscapes in this region are still (at least partially) connected ecologically and hold great potential for economic and development growth. The UK's international development plan could benefit from improved optimization strategies that balance ecological sustainability while still maximizing human benefits. These approaches align the U.K. with the objectives of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG's) outlined by the United Nations during the Rio+20 Conference which aim to balance the human condition (poverty, health, hunger, education and equality) with healthy ecosystems (clean water, sustainability, climate, life on land) to ensure economic growth, production, industry and innovation. This Industrial CASE studentship leverages scientific expertise in theoretical ecology and African landscape ecology (University of Glasgow) with opportunities to develop data products and knowledge-based tools that are directly integrated with decision makers to help them understand the societal and economic benefits of biodiversity at the global level (the World Conservation Monitoring Centre [WCMC]). Adding to this partnership, two international collaborations with the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute (SCBI) and the Tanzanian Wildlife Research Institute (TAWIRI) bring additional datasets and resources that increase the breadth for the training and optimization of the UK's contribution to international development. The PhD programme project will use the collaborative GPS collar data bank of animal movement in sub-Saharan Africa with high resolution satellite imagery and GIS layers to look at movement of animals in relation to environmental cues and international infrastructure development. Using a suite of new analytical tools, the project will discern how different taxa (herbivores, carnivores, grazers, browsers, ruminants, equids) of various sizes use features such as rainfall and vegetation gradients, river networks, roads, fences, agricultural cultivation, and energy infrastructure. These movement patterns will be integrated with demographic data to develop informed models of landscape connectedness that can be used to simulate the spatial cost-consequence-outcome of different development strategies (e.g. alternative road networks or mitigation tactics such as wildlife over/under-passes). These objectives are aimed at improving our ability for policy-driven environmental research as well as improving society's benefits from natural resources.
- NERC Reference:
- NE/R008574/1
- Grant Stage:
- Awaiting Resumption
- Scheme:
- DTG - directed
- Grant Status:
- Active
- Programme:
- Industrial CASE
This training grant award has a total value of £89,114
FDAB - Financial Details (Award breakdown by headings)
| Total - Fees | Total - Student Stipend | Total - RTSG |
|---|---|---|
| £17,480 | £60,637 | £11,000 |
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