While we are broadly interested in most aspects of human-environment interactions, our research works fall under three themes:
Sustainable Food System
Under the changing climate, farmers have to undergo various stresses during food production. To deal with uncertainties, farmers adopt different strategies ranging from changing planting dates to adopting a bundle of climate smart strategies. Their decision-making relies on many social, economic, management, and biophysical factors and has varied implications. Understanding their decision-making strategies and their implications have the utmost importance to ensure local to regional to global food security under changing climate. My research addresses how farmers perceive changing environments, how they undertake agriculture-related decisions, what factors influence their decisions, what factors influence inequalities in decision-making, what barriers prevent them in undertaking adaptation strategies, and their implications impact agricultural production.
Climate Adaptation Decision-making
With an aim to reduce climate change risks and vulnerabilities and enhance adaptive capacities, various actors are involved in planning and implementing risk reduction or adaptation strategies. These actors can range from individuals to communities to NGOs to national governments. They encounter various challenges that influence their (inter)actions negatively. If not properly addressed, these challenges may lead to inefficient use of resources, ineffective actions, and even to maladaptation. My research provides insights into how policies are designed to accommodate climate change-related issues, how the multilevel actors are managing climate change impacts, and how different types of challenges impair their governance processes. Under this research agenda, I am currently interested in analyzing the determinants of marginalization in decision-making and how can we address inequality and marginalization.
With an aim to reduce climate change risks and vulnerabilities and enhance adaptive capacities, various actors are involved in planning and implementing risk reduction or adaptation strategies. These actors can range from individuals to communities to NGOs to national governments. They encounter various challenges that influence their (inter)actions negatively. If not properly addressed, these challenges may lead to inefficient use of resources, ineffective actions, and even to maladaptation. My research provides insights into how policies are designed to accommodate climate change-related issues, how the multilevel actors are managing climate change impacts, and how different types of challenges impair their governance processes. Under this research agenda, I am currently interested in analyzing the determinants of marginalization in decision-making and how can we address inequality and marginalization.
Disaster Management and Environmental Sustainability
The impacts of disasters are not similar across regions or societies. Particularly the coastal and urban areas are encountering increasing disaster risks often fueled by climate change. Disaster risk management involves disaster mitigation, preparedness, response, and recovery. Who are the vulnerable groups, what factors play key roles in determining disaster risks, how much effective the preparedness initiatives are, how different actors manage disaster risks, how do people respond to disasters and recover with or without the assistance from external actors- insights on these questions can significantly improve disaster risk management. My research examines these issues in both coastal and urban contexts. My research further focuses on the environmental aspect of sustainability. Using geospatial techniques I examine how development jeopardizes environmental sustainability. I identify hotspots of environmental degradation, analyze the factors responsible for degradation, and examine the implications.
The impacts of disasters are not similar across regions or societies. Particularly the coastal and urban areas are encountering increasing disaster risks often fueled by climate change. Disaster risk management involves disaster mitigation, preparedness, response, and recovery. Who are the vulnerable groups, what factors play key roles in determining disaster risks, how much effective the preparedness initiatives are, how different actors manage disaster risks, how do people respond to disasters and recover with or without the assistance from external actors- insights on these questions can significantly improve disaster risk management. My research examines these issues in both coastal and urban contexts. My research further focuses on the environmental aspect of sustainability. Using geospatial techniques I examine how development jeopardizes environmental sustainability. I identify hotspots of environmental degradation, analyze the factors responsible for degradation, and examine the implications.