With: International Development Section of the Royal Statistical Society.
Award: Mardia Prize, Royal Statistical Society
Project
A series of workshops to develop a framework for statistical contributions to interdisciplinary work on the sustainable management of natural resources for poverty alleviation
Motivation
In low income countries, many poor people are dependent on the use of and access to natural resources for their livelihoods. There has been increasing work on the sustainable management of natural resources for poverty alleviation (SMNRPA). This work requires knowledge of biological processes, the physical environment, social and economic systems and their interactions. For example, a forest may need to be managed to (i) support livelihoods of the local community and (ii) habitats and species that are of global or national importance. All this with the pressures of climate change and increasing population.
Managers and researchers need evidence to help understand and manage these complex systems. This can require integrating data from multiple sources, both quantitative and qualitative, that are measured on different spatial and temporal scales. There are many statistical challenges to doing this and statisticians do work on similar problems in other application areas. But, there are very few statisticians working in this area.
Aims
The aim of this series of three workshops is to foster conversation and dialogue between different disciplines. In particular to:
- Raise awareness of (i) statisticians about types of problems that those working in SMNRPA face and (ii) those working in SMNRPA about the ways in which statisticians are helping to solve similar problems in other disciplines
- Identify areas for creative collaborative work
- Create a longer-term strategy to continue to build and develop collaborations between the different communities
Some of these ideas were described in a talk (slides) as part of an invited session at the Royal Statistical Society Conference in 2015.
A brief write-up of the first workshop can be found here
Filed under: Sustainable management of natural resources for poverty alleviation, complex systems, International development
