School of Earth and Environment

Lindsay C. Stringer Dr Lindsay C. Stringer

Director: Sustainability Research Institute; Reader in Environment and Development

Telephone number: +44(0) 113 34 37530
Email address: l.stringer@leeds.ac.uk
Room: 9.105
Twitter: @LindsayStringer

Biography

Lindsay's research is interdisciplinary and uses theories and methods from both the natural and social sciences to understand environmental change and livelihood dynamics. She has field experience in Africa, UK and Eastern Europe. Lindsay has published numerous peer-reviewed articles in leading international journals, as well as book chapters, working papers, book reviews, magazine articles and policy reports. She has also presented her work at international conferences across the world. In addition, Lindsay has an international consultancy reputation, having undertaken commissioned work on several occasions for the United Nations, as well as for the UK Government's Department for International Development and other agencies and organisations.

Lindsay has recently been involved in projects funded by bodies such as the UK's Joint Research Councils (NERC, ESRC, BBSRC) under the Rural Economy and Land Use Programme, the European Commission (Framework Programmes 6 and 7), the British Academy, the Climate and Development Knowledge Network, and DFID/NERC/ESRC under the Ecosystem Services and Poverty Alleviation Programme. Her current and recently completed research projects include:

    • Assessing institutional and governance partnerships for climate compatible development in southern Africa

      (Funded through CDKN). This project identifies and analyses successful climate compatible development models and institutional and governance partnership activities involving different stakeholders in complex and dynamic governance and political-economic contexts in sub-Saharan Africa. It focuses specifically on the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Mozambique, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

    • Managing land for carbon in southern Africa: Relationships between carbon, livelihoods and ecosystem services
      (Funded through the DFID/NERC/ESRC Ecosystem Services and Poverty Alleviation programme, part of the Living with Environmental Change Programme). This project considers carbon stores and fluxes relating to soil and vegetation along a transect through Namibia-Botswana-Zambia-Malawi, examining tradeoffs between land use shifts, the continued provision of ecosystem services and the ways they link to livelihoods of the poor.
    • Centre for Climate Change Economics and Policy (CCCEP). CCCEP is funded by the ESRC. I am involved in research on adaptation to climate change and human development. This programme aims to advance our understanding of the socio-economic impacts of climate change, the capacity of public and private decision-makers to adapt, and the policy responses needed to reduce the costs of climate change on social and economic development.

    • Sustainable Liquid Biofuels from Biomass Biorefining (SUNLIBB). SUNLIBB is funded through EU FP7 and brings together researchers and industrial innovators to overcome technical barriers for second generation bioethanol production. The project aims to ensure that the new processes developed fulfil sustainability requirements across environmental, social and economic dimensions and is working in cooperation with CEProBIO, Brazil.

    • Involved: What makes stakeholder participation work? (Funded by the British Academy). This project investigates what makes stakeholder participation in environmental management work. By understanding why different approaches work in different contexts, more appropriate participatory processes can be designed.

    • Sustainable Uplands: Transforming Knowledge for Upland Change (Funded through the Joint Research Councils' Rural Economy and Land Use programme). This project develops new approaches that can stimulate knowledge exchange, learning and innovation between researchers, policy makers, businesses, local stakeholders and the wider public with an interest in Upland Sustainability.

    • Desertification Mitigation and Remediation of Degraded Land (DESIRE- funded through EU FP6). This project examines alternative strategies for the use, protection and rehabilitation of 18 international desertification 'hotspots' and brings together 28 research institutions, non-governmental organisations and policy makers from all over the world.

    • Sustainable delivery of pollination services for African food production. (Funded through the DFID/NERC/ESRC Ecosystem Services and Poverty Alleviation programme). This project aims to identify the knowledge gaps and scientific challenges currently hampering the sustainable delivery of crop pollination and honey production services to rural Sub-Saharan Africa.

Lindsay is also involved in PhD student supervision in the Climate Compatible Development Partnership.

Qualifications

BSc Geography (University of Sheffield); MSc Environmental Monitoring and Assessment in Drylands (University of Sheffield); PhD Geography (University of Sheffield)

Memberships/Fellowships

Lindsay is the reviews editor for the journal Land Degradation and Development, an associate editor for the journal Food Security and is a member of the Steering Committee of Desertnet International.

Research Interests

Environmental and land use change (including social, political and economic dimensions); land degradation and desertification; participatory processes; livelihood dynamics; environmental governance.

PhD student supervision:

Lindsay is currently supervising/co-supervising the following PhD students:

  • Ms Cecilia De Ita - The sustainability impacts of coastal tourism developments in Mexico (Co-supervised with Dr Keith Hamer; funded by Conacyt)

  • Mr Nicola Favretto - Jatropha curcas energy crop cultivation: policy and livelihood implications in Mali. (Co-supervised with Prof Andy Dougill; funded by a University of Leeds Overseas Research Scholarship)

  • Ms Jami Dixon - A holistic approach to crop and climate prediction to enhance adaptation policy and practice (Co-supervised with Dr Andy Challinor; funded by an ESRC-NERC studentship)

  • Mr David Glew - Validating the sustainability of biorenewable replacements for petrochemical products (Co-supervised with Prof Simon McQueen-Mason, University of York; funded by a White Rose studentship)

  • Mr Jose Octavio Velazquez Gomar - Institutional interactions among biodiversity-related conventions: How interplay management can improve global environmental governance (Co-supervised with Prof Jouni Paavola; funded by Conacyt)

  • Mr Philip Antwi-Agyei - Vulnerability to climate change in food systems (Co-supervised with Dr Evan Fraser, University of Guelph, Canada and Prof Andy Dougill; funded by a Commonwealth Scholarship)

  • Mr Steven Orchard - NGO mangrove restoration interventions and their influence on social capital: implications for climate change adaptation in coastal villages of Vietnam (Co-supervised with Dr Claire Quinn; funded by ESRC/CCCEP)

  • Ms Elizabeth Harrison - Assessing lessons from Community-based natural resource management for the implementation of carbon sequestration schemes in Dryland Africa (Co-supervised by Prof Andy Dougill and Dr Deborah Sporton (University of Sheffield); funded by an ESRC White Rose Doctoral Training Centre scholarship)

Completed PhD students:

  • Jen Dyer - Assessing the impacts of biodiesel crop Jatropha curcas on livelihoods in rural Malawi (Co-supervised with Prof Andy Dougill; funded by an ESRC-CASE studentship)

Lindsay would be interested in supervising PhD students with an interest in any of the following themes:

Adaptation to environmental (including climate) change;

Participatory processes (including a focus on knowledge flows and social learning) in managing natural resources and social-ecological systems;

Sustainability and livelihood implications of biofuel cultivation and land use changes;

Synergy and multiple benefits in implementing global policies to address environmental change (e.g. UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, UN Convention to Combat Desertification, UN Convention on Biodiversity).

Publications

  • Dyer JC; Leventon J; Stringer LC; Dougill AJ; Syampungani S; Nshimbi M; Chama F; Kafwifwi A (2013) Partnership models for climate compatible development: experiences from Zambia, Resources, 2, pp.1-38. doi: 10.3390/resources2010001
  • Reed MS; Hubacek K; Prell C; Bonn A; Burt TP; Worrall F; Holden J; Stringer LC; Beharry-Borg N; Chapman PJ; Cornell SJ; Dougill AJ; Irvine BJ; Kirkby MJ; Kunin WE; Quinn CH; Buckmaster S; Chapman D; Clay GD; Evely AC; Fraser EDG; Jin N; Slee B; Stagl S; Termansen M; Thorp S (2013) Anticipating and managing future trade-offs and complementarities between ecosystem services, Ecology and Society, 18, . doi: 10.5751/ES-04924-180105
  • Simelton E; Quinn CH; Batisani N; Dougill AJ; Dyer J; Fraser E; Mkwambisi D; Sallu SM; Stringer L (2013) Is rainfall really changing? Farmers? perceptions, meteorological data, and policy implications, Climate and Development, . doi: 10.1080/17565529.2012.751893
  • Glew D; McQueen-Mason S; Stringer LC (2013) Achieving sustainable biomaterials by maximising waste recovery, Waste Management, . doi: 10.1016/j.wasman.2013.03.005
  • Duvenage I; Stringer LC; Langston C; Dunstan K (2013) Understanding Sustainable Biofuel Development: a sub-Saharan Africa Perspective, African Journal of Economic and Sustainable Development, 2, pp.72-98.
  • Duvenage I; Langston C; Stringer LC; Dunstan K (2013) Grappling with biofuels in Zimbabwe: Depriving or sustaining societal and environmental integrity?, Journal of Cleaner Production, 42, pp.132-140. doi: 10.1016/j.jclepro.2012.11.011
  • Stringer LC; Dougill AJ (2013) Channelling science into policy: enabling best practices from research on land degradation and sustainable land management in dryland Africa., J Environ Manage, 114, pp.328-335. doi: 10.1016/j.jenvman.2012.10.025
  • Stringer LC; Paavola J (2013) Participation in environmental conservation and protected area management in Romania: A review of three case studies, Environmental Conservation, 40, pp.138-146. doi: 10.1017/S0376892913000039
  • Fazey I; Evely AC; Reed MS; Stringer LC; Kruijsen J; White PCL; Newsham A; Jin L; Cortazzi M; Phillipson J; Lowe P; Blackstock K; Entwistle N; Morton S; Sheate W; Armstrong F; Blackmore C; Fazey J; Ingram J; Gregson J; Trevitt C (2013) Knowledge exchange: A review and research agenda for environmental management, Environmental Conservation, 40, pp.19-36. doi: 10.1017/S037689291200029X
  • Duvenage I; Taplin R; Stringer L (2012) Bioenergy project appraisal in sub-Saharan Africa: Sustainability barriers and opportunities in Zambia, Natural Resources Forum, 36, pp.167-180. doi: 10.1111/j.1477-8947.2012.01453.x
  • Glew D; McQueen-Mason S; Stringer LC; Acquaye AA (2012) How do end of life scenarios influence the environmental impact of product supply chains? comparing biomaterial and petrochemical products, Journal of Cleaner Production, 29-30, pp.122-131. doi: 10.1016/j.jclepro.2012.02.005
  • Dougill AJ; Stringer LC; Leventon J; Riddell M; Rueff H; Spracklen DV; Butt E (2012) Lessons from community-based payment for ecosystem service schemes: from forests to rangelands., Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci, 367, pp.3178-3190. doi: 10.1098/rstb.2011.0418
  • Abson DJ; Dougill AJ; Stringer LC (2012) Using Principal Component Analysis for information-rich socio-ecological vulnerability mapping in Southern Africa, Applied Geography, 35, pp.515-524. doi: 10.1016/j.apgeog.2012.08.004
  • Afionis S; Stringer LC (2012) European Union leadership in biofuels regulation: Europe as a normative power?, Journal of Cleaner Production, 32, pp.114-123. doi: 10.1016/j.jclepro.2012.03.034
  • Antwi-Agyei P; Dougill AJ; Stringer LC; Fraser EDG (2012) Characterising the nature of household vulnerability to climate variability: empirical evidence from two regions of Ghana, Environment, Development and Sustainability, pp.1-24. doi: 10.1007/s10668-012-9418-9
  • Duvenage I; Taplin R; Stringer LC (2012) Towards implementation and achievement of sustainable biofuel development in Africa, Environment, Development and Sustainability, 14, pp.993-1012. doi: 10.1007/s10668-012-9368-2
  • Gnacadja L; Stringer LC (2012) Towards a Global Authority on Desertification and Land Degradation, Environmental Policy and Law, 42, pp.87-89.
  • Dyer JC; Stringer LC; Dougill AJ (2012) Jatropha curcas: Sowing local seeds of success in Malawi?. In response to Achten et al. (2010), Journal of Arid Environments, 79, pp.107-110. doi: 10.1016/j.jaridenv.2011.12.004
  • Yitbarek TW; Belliethathan S; Stringer LC (2012) The Onsite Cost of Gully Erosion and Cost-Benefit of Gully Rehabilitation: a case study in Ethiopia, Land Degradation and Development, 23, pp.157-166. doi: 10.1002/ldr.1065
  • Stringer LC; Dougill AJ; Thomas AD; Spracklen DV; Chesterman S; Ifejika Speranza C; Rueff H; Riddell M; Williams M; Beedy T; Abson DJ; Klintenberg P; Syampungani S; Powell P; Palmer AR; Seely MK; Mkwambisi DD; Falcao M; Sitoe A; Ross S; Kopolo G (2012) Challenges and opportunities in linking carbon sequestration, livelihoods and ecosystem service provision in drylands, Environmental Science and Policy, 19-20, pp.121-135. doi: 10.1016/j.envsci.2012.02.004
  • Antwi-Agyei P; Fraser EDG; Dougill AJ; Stringer LC; Simelton E (2012) Mapping Food System Vulnerability to Drought Using Rainfall, Yield and Socioeconomic Data for Ghana, Applied Geography, 32, pp.324-334. doi: 10.1016/j.apgeog.2011.06.010
  • Thomas RJ; Akhtar-Schuster M; Stringer LC; Marques MJ; Escadafal R; Abraham E; Enne G (2012) Fertile ground? Options for a science?policy platform for land, Environmental Science and Policy, 16, pp.122-135. doi: 10.1016/j.envsci.2011.11.002
  • Stringer LC; Dougill AJ; Dyer JC; Kalaba FK; Mkwambisi DD; Mngoli M (2012) Challenges and opportunities for carbon management in Malawi and Zambia, Carbon Management, 3, pp.159-173. doi: 10.4155/cmt.12.14
  • Duvenage I; Taplin R; Stringer LC (2011) Appropriate Climate Change Solutions: Towards Sustainable Bioenergy Agro-production in Africa for Energy Equality and Poverty Alleviation, The International Journal of Climate Change Impacts and Responses, 2, pp.101-114.
  • Whitfield S; Reed MS; Thomson K; Christie ME; Stringer LC; Quinn CH; Anderson AR; Moxey A; Hubacek K (2011) K Managing peatland ecosystem services: current UK policy and future challenges in a changing world, Scottish Geographical Journal, 127, pp.209-230. doi: 10.1080/14702541.2011.616864
  • Twyman C; Fraser EDG; Stringer LC; Quinn C; Dougill AJ; Ravera F; Crane TA; Sallu SM (2011) Climate Science, Development Practice, and Policy Interactions in Dryland Agroecological Systems, ECOL SOC, 16, . doi: 10.5751/ES-04261-160314
  • Akhtar-Schuster M; Thomas RJ; Stringer LC; Chasek P; Seely MK (2011) Improving the enabling environment to combat land degradation: institutional, financial, legal and science-policy challenges and solutions, Land Degradation and Development, 22, pp.299-312. doi: 10.1002/ldr.1058
  • Gomar JOV; Stringer LC (2011) Moving towards sustainability? An analysis of CITES? conservation policies, Journal of Environmental Policy and Governance, 21, pp.240-258. doi: 10.1002/eet.577
  • Chasek P; Essahli W; Akhtar-Schuster M; Stringer LC; Thomas RJ (2011) Integrated Land degradation monitoring and assessment: Horizontal knowledge management at the national and international levels, Land Degradation and Development, 22, pp.272-284. doi: 10.1002/ldr.1096
  • Reed MS; Buenemann M; Atlhopheng J; Akhtar-Schuster M; Bachmann F; Bastin G; Bigas H; Chanda R; Dougill AJ; Essahli W; Evely AC; Geeson N; Fleskens L; Glass JH; Hessel R; Holden J; Ioris AAR; Kruger B; Liniger HP; Mphinyane W; Nainggolan D; Perkins J; Raymond CM; Ritsema CJ; Schwilch G; Sebego R; Seely M; Stringer LC; Thomas R; Twomlow S; Verzandvoort S (2011) Cross-scale monitoring and assessment of land degradation and sustainable land management: A methodological framework for knowledge management, Land Degradation & Development, 22, pp.161-171. doi: 10.1002/ldr.1087
  • Sallu SM; Twyman C; Stringer LC (2010) Resilient or vulnerable livelihoods? Assessing livelihood dynamics and trajectories in rural Botswana., Ecology and Society, 15, .
  • Reed MS; Evely AC; Cundill G; Fazey I; Glass J; Laing A; Newig J; Parrish B; Prell C; Raymond C; Stringer LC (2010) What is Social Learning?, Ecology and Society, 15, .
  • Fazey I; Gamarra JGP; Fischer J; Reed MS; Stringer LC; Christie M (2010) Adaptation strategies for reducing vulnerability to future environmental change, FRONT ECOL ENVIRON, 8, pp.414-422. doi: 10.1890/080215
  • Raymond CM; Fazey I; Reed MS; Stringer L; Robinson GM; Evely AC (2010) Integrating local and scientific knowledge for environmental management, Journal of Environmental Management, 91, pp.1766-1777. doi: 10.1016/j.jenvman.2010.03.023
  • Stringer L; Mkwambisi D; Dougill AJ; Dyer JC (2010) Household and policy adaptations to climate change and desertification: perspectives from Malawi, Climate and Development, pp.145-160. doi: 10.3763/cdev.2010.0042
  • Stringer LC; Thomas RJ; Akhtar-Schuster M (2010) Expand scientific input to address environmental effects, NATURE, 465, pp.869-869. doi: 10.1038/465869c
  • Stringer LC; Scrieciu SS; Reed MS (2009) Biodiversity, land degradation, and climate change: Participatory planning in Romania, APPL GEOGR, 29, pp.77-90. doi: 10.1016/j.apgeog.2008.07.008
  • Stringer L; Dyer J; Reed MS; Dougill AJ; Twyman C; Mkwambisi D (2009) Adaptations to climate change, drought and desertification: insights to enhance policy in southern Africa, Environmental Science and Policy, 12, pp.748-765. doi: 10.1016/j.envsci.2009.04.002
  • HUBACEK K; BEHARRY N; BONN A; BURT T; HOLDEN J; RAVERA F; REED M; STRINGER L; TARRASÓN D (2009) Ecosystem services in dynamic and contested landscapes: the case of UK uplands., In: Winter M; Lobley M (Ed) What Is Land For?, Earthscan / James & James.
  • Stringer LC (2009) Testing the orthodoxies of land degradation policy in Swaziland, LAND USE POLICY, 26, pp.157-168. doi: 10.1016/j.landusepol.2008.01.008
  • Foxon T; Reed M; Stringer L (2009) Governing long-term social-ecological change: what can the adaptive management and transition management approaches learn from each other?, Environmental Policy and Governance, 19, pp.3-20. doi: 10.1002/eet.496
  • Reed MS; Bonn A; Slee W; Beharry-Borg N; Birch J; Brown I; Burt TP; Chapman D; Chapman PJ; Clay G; Cornell S; Fraser EDG; Holden J; Hodgson J; Hubacek K; Irvine B; Jin N; Kirkby MJ; Kunin W; Moore O; Moseley D; Prell C; Quinn C; Redpath S; Stagl S; Stringer LC; Termansen M; Thorp S; Towers W; Worrall F (2009) The future of the uplands., Land Use Policy, 26, pp.202-216.
  • Bauer S; Stringer LC (2009) The role of science in the global governance of desertification, Journal of Environment and Development, 18, pp.248-267. doi: 10.1177/1070496509338405
  • Stringer L (2009) Reviewing the links between desertification and food insecurity: from parallel challenges to synergistic solutions., Food Security, 1, pp.113-126. doi: 10.1007/s12571-009-0016-0
  • Reed MS; Graves A; Dandy N; Posthumus H; Hubacek K; Morris J; Prell C; Quinn CH; Stringer LC (2009) Who's in and why? A typology of stakeholder analysis methods for natural resource management, J ENVIRON MANAGE, 90, pp.1933-1949. doi: 10.1016/j.jenvman.2009.01.001
  • Fraser EDG; Stringer LC (2009) Explaining agricultural collapse: Macro-forces, micro-crises and the emergence of land use vulnerability in southern Romania, GLOBAL ENVIRON CHANG, 19, pp.45-53. doi: 10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2008.11.001
  • Stringer LC (2008) Reviewing the international year of deserts and Desertification 2006: What contribution towards combating global desertification and implementing the united nations convention to combat desertification?, J ARID ENVIRON, 72, pp.2065-2074. doi: 10.1016/j.jaridenv.2008.06.010
  • Scrieciu SS; Stringer LC (2008) The transformation of post-Communist societies in Central and Eastern Europe and the Former Soviet Union: an economic and ecological sustainability perspective, European Environment, 18, pp.168-185. doi: 10.1002/eet.480
  • Stringer L (2008) Can the UN Convention to Combat Desertification guide sustainable use of the world's soils?, FRONT ECOL ENVIRON, 6, pp.138-144. doi: 10.1890/070060
  • Stringer LC; Twyman C; Gibbs LM (2008) Learning from the South: common challenges and solutions for small-scale farming, GEOGR J, 174, pp.235-250.
  • Foxon T; Stringer LC; Reed MS (2008) Approaches to governing long-term social-ecological change: Comparing adaptive management and transition management, Oekologisches Wirtschaften, pp.20-22.
  • Stringer LC; Reed MS; Dougill AJ; Seely MK; Rokitzki M (2007) Implementing the UNCCD: Participatory challenges, NAT RESOUR FORUM, 31, pp.198-211.
  • Holden J; Shotbolt L; Bonn A; Burt TP; Chapman PJ; Dougill AJ; Fraser EDG; Hubacek K; Irvine B; Kirkby MJ; Reed MS; Prell C; Stagl S; Stringer LC; Turner A; Worrall F (2007) Environmental change in moorland landscapes, EARTH-SCI REV, 82, pp.75-100. doi: 10.1016/j.earscirev.2007.01.003
  • Stringer LC; Twyman C; Thomas DSG (2007) Learning to reduce degradation on Swaziland's arable land: enhancing understandings of Striga asiatica, Land Degradation and Development, 18, pp.163-177. doi: 10.1002/ldr.768
  • Reed MS; Stringer LC (2007) Unravelling desertification: Policies and actor networks in Southern Europe, J RURAL STUD, 23, pp.491-492. doi: 10.1016/j.jrurstud.2006.11.005
  • Stringer LC; Reed MS (2007) Land degradation assessment in southern Africa: Integrating local and scientific knowledge bases, LAND DEGRAD DEV, 18, pp.99-116. doi: 10.1002/ldr.760
  • Stringer LC; Thomas DSG; Twyman C (2007) From global politics to local land users: applying the United Nations Convention to combat desertification in Swaziland, The Geographical Journal, 173, pp.129-142. doi: 10.1111/j.1475-4959.2007.00226.x
  • Stringer LC (2007) Review of: Governing Global Desertification edited by P. M. Johnson, K. Mayrand and M. Paquin, Journal of Modern African Studies, 45, pp.325-327. doi: 10.1017/S0022278X07002595
  • Stringer LC; Twyman C; Thomas DSG (2007) Combating land degradation through participatory means: the case of Swaziland, Ambio, 36, pp.387-393. doi: 10.1579/0044-7447(2007)36[387:CLDTPM]2.0.CO;2
  • Scrieciu SS; Stringer LC (2007) Agriculture, land reform and the environment in post-socialist Romania, Agricultural Economics and Rural Development, 4, pp.43-56.
  • Parish F; Silvius M; Reed MS; Stringer LC; Joosten H; Suryadiputra N; Lin CK (2007) Management of peatlands for biodiversity and climate change , In: Parish F; Sirin A; Charman D; Joosten H; Minaeva T; Silvius M (Ed) Assessment on peatlands, biodiversity and climate change, Global Environment Centre, Kuala Lumpur & Wetlands International Wageningen, pp.pp.9-1 --9-23.
  • Stringer LC; Dougill AJ; Fraser E; Hubacek K; Prell C; Reed MS (2006) Unpacking "participation" in the adaptive management of social ecological systems: A critical review, ECOL SOC, 11, .
  • Stringer LC (2006) The UN Convention to Combat Desertification, .
  • Dougill AJ; Fraser EDG; Holden J; Hubacek K; Prell C; Reed MS; Stagl S; Stringer LC (2006) Learning from doing participatory rural research: Lessons from the Peak District National Park, J AGR ECON, 57, pp.259-275.
  • Richardson T; Stringer LC; Meth P (2005) Everyday life and Spatial Governance, Research Papers in Town and Regional Planning: TRP 147 , University of Sheffield Department of Town and Regional Planning, pp.1-52.