I am a PhD candidate, Liu Scholar, and Vanier Canada Graduate Scholar co-supervised by Kai Chan and Hisham Zerriffi (Liu Institute for Global Issues), with Sean Smuckler (Land and Food Systems) on my committee. Broadly, my interests lie in sustainable rural development; I have a strong desire to influence development and conservation policy and practice in order to improve outcomes for both people and the environment. My current research explores social-ecological system outcomes when small farmers in developing countries participate in global coordinated food and environmental service markets. I am studying empirical cases of market participation in Costa Rica and Mexico funded by the Liu Bottom Billion Fund and the International Development Research Council. Most recently, I completed an internship participating in small scale farming in British Columbia, and will be starting my PhD fieldwork in Central America in November 2013.
As well as CHANS, I am also involved with the Zerriffi Research Group and the International Development Research Network at UBC, and am a Research Fellow of the Earth System Governance Research Network. During my PhD, I have been involved in student government at IRES, including work to get a community garden started, in research surrounding decision making and institutional sustainability, and in leading a review on the impacts of Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation on local communities for the Responsive Forest Governance Initiative.
Previously, for an MA at IRES (2010), I studied the effects of carbon credit generation on development outcomes of tree planting projects involving small farmers in Uganda, and completed a BSc in Environmental Science at Mount Allison University (2004). My professional experience includes research and development work in communities in East Africa, Angola, Costa Rica, Honduras and Canada, including a CIDA-funded agricultural internship with Africa Community Technical Service in rural Uganda, and teaching at camps, at the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto, and on UBC Farm.
Contact: emilyka[at]interchange.ubc.ca
Recent publications:
Anderson, E.K. & Zerriffi, H. 2012. Seeing the trees for the carbon: agroforestry for development and climate mitigation. <em>Climatic Change: 115</em>(3-4):741-757. DOI: 10.1007/s10584-012-0456-y
Anderson, E., Findlater, K.M., Freeman, O.E., Levine, J., Morinville, C., Peloso, M., Rodina, L., Singh, G., Tesfamichael, D., Harris, L. and Zerriffi, H. 2012. Bridging Disciplinary and Professional Divides to Improve International Development Research at Universities. In W. Leal Filho (Ed.) <em>Sustainable Development at Universities: New Horizons</em> (pp.753-769). Frankfurt, Germany: Peter Lang Internationaler Verlag der Wissenschaften.
Anderson, E.K. 2010. Can planting trees bring co-benefits? Smallholder tree-planting for development and carbon mitigation. MA dissertation. Vancouver, BC: The University of British Columbia.