Political Ecology group
Research areas
Research within the PED Group draws on a wide range of methods and contexts, considering in particular issues of social capital, development and the state, institutional economics, the politics and human ecology of ecosystem management
Geographically, work is focused in the Third World, particularly in:
- South and Southeast Asia, especially India and Thailand
- Pacific: Solomon Islands, Papua new Guinea, Indonesia Africa, especially Ethiopia, Zimbabwe, Nigeria, Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda,
Current research themes are:
- Institutions and institutional change in the management of natural resources, particularly forest, wildlife and land resources in India, Melanesia, Ethiopia and Eastern Africa
- Rural livelihoods and social capital, particularly in India
- Politics, governance and the state in India
- Indigenous irrigation, wetland management and the impacts of river basin development in Africa
- Social constructions of nature, especially in the context of wildlife conservation
- The management of tropical forests, especially agroforestry and 'sustainable forestry' in Melanesia and Central America
- Urban sustainability, particularly in India
Research by the PED group has been funded by the Economic and Social Research Council, the Department for International Development, the Wellcome Trust and the European Commission.
The PED group's members are linked closely with research in a number of other departments, particularly in Zoology and African Studies and through the Cambridge Environmental Initiative (CEI). Outside the University, the PED Group has close relations with the Cambridge Conservation Forum and members are involved in the organisation of the Student Conference on Conservation Science and the UK Poverty & Conservation Working Group.