Addressing the unintended consequences of tropical forest restoration for people and biodiversity.

I held a NERC-IIASA Collaborative Fellowship 2020-2024 to conduct systems-analysis based research into the potential outcomes of forest restoration initiatives in tropical regions. I was based at Bangor University, but worked closely with colleagues at the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA) in Austria, particularly in the Integrated Biosphere Futures and Biodiversity, Ecology and Conservation research groups.

I worked to improve and extend IIASA's Global Biosphere Management Model (GLOBIOM) to better represent land use change dynamics at the national and sub-national level, and to model the potential outcomes of forest restoration policies through processes such as leakage and market feedbacks. I assessed outcomes of forest restoration policies for carbon, biodiversity and liveilhoods, and seek to identify policy solutions that avoid unintended consequences, such as displaced deforestation and net biodiversity loss.

This research was focussed on Colombia, working with collaborators at the Instituto Humboldt, and the Pontificia Universidad Javeriana.

Tropical peatland restoration - University of York

Prior to joining Bangor University, I spent two years as a post-doctoral researcher at the University of York, studying tropical peatland restoration in Sumatra, Indonesia for a Newton Fund project. I worked with an inter-disciplinary research team spanning social scientists, GIS and remote sensing specialists and soil scientists from the UK and Indonesia. I led field teams to conduct ecological surveys of oil palm smallholdings and forests growing on peat, and conducted modelling of landscape connectivity for forest-dependent wildlife species.

Find out more about this project here: https://www.york.ac.uk/yesi/research/resilient-ecosystems/tropical-peatland-restoration/

Rubber plantations in Southeast Asia - livelihoods, biodiversity and carbon - University of East Anglia

My PhD research focussed on rubber plantations (Hevea brasiliensis) as a driver of deforestation in Southeast Asia, with two broad strands. Firstly, assessing the importance of rubber plantation expansion as a driver of land use change, and the potential for carbon payments (e.g. through REDD+) to offer a financially attractive alternative to deforestation for rubber. Secondly, I conducted ecological fieldwork to assess the potential for agroforestry to improve biodiversity values in high-yielding rubber farms, without impacting farmer livelihoods.

I continue to contribute to sustainability initiatives around natural rubber production.

I am a conservation scientist, and focus my research on avoiding tropical forest loss, supporting biodiversity using agroforestry, and the role of sustainable supply chain initiatives.

I use a variety of economic and spatial modelling approaches at large scale to understand how different policy scenarios affect land use change, and in turn, outcomes for biodiversity, people and climate. I also use field surveys at local scales to understand relationships between biodiversity, livelihoods and carbon in landscapes containing smallholder plantations and agroforests.

Location: Thoday Building, School of Environmental and Natural Sciences, Bangor 

Email: [email protected]

Website: https://ewarrenthomas.wordpress.com/