Abha Joglekar

Thesis title:

Why should we plant trees?

Abstract:

Large-scale land restoration efforts are concentrated in the tropics and sub-tropics, but it is unclear how these regions will respond to and implement restoration at scale. This research focuses on restoration initiatives in Brazil and India and aims to document, a) why individual landholders engage in restoration, b) the perceived and actual impacts of restoration initiatives, and c) multi-actor perspectives on scaling restoration practices in the region. The research uses a mixed methods approach combining surveys and semi-structured interviews. While the interviews will enable a qualitative understanding of the adoption process, the surveys are designed on the social sciences theory of Diffusion of Innovations (Rogers, 2003) which will link the characteristics of the adoption process as well as relative preferences among landholders. This will help in the design and implementation of restoration projects that are likely to scale. Further, a comparison of case studies in India and Brazil will enable an understanding of what works in different socio-ecological contexts. This is particularly important in the broader context where India and Brazil are significant contributors to global restoration goals but have very different experiences of forest restoration to date.

First supervisor:

Morena Mills

Pathway:

9-Political Ecology, Energy & Environmental Health

Cohort:

2021-22

Publications:

Ramprasad, V., A. Joglekar, and F. Fleischman. 2020. Plantations and pastoralists: afforestation activities make pastoralists in the Indian Himalaya vulnerable. Ecology and Society 25(4):1. https://doi.org/10.5751/ES-11810-250401 https://ecologyandsociety.org/vol25/iss4/art1/

Social Media:

LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/abha-joglekar-a5a95927/

X – https://twitter.com/abha_joglekar