Postgraduate Researcher

Contact Details

• Email: sr174@le.ac.uk
• Fax: 0116 252 3854

PhD in Physical Geography

Quantifying the Minimum Viable Conservation Area for the Southern Rift Valley (Kenya) using Ecosystem Viability Analysis as the tool.

Biodiversity conservation is only going to be effective in the long term, when sustainable ecosystem management includes human uses. The Rift Valley of East Africa is an excellent and necessary area to test this hypothesis, because the greatest vertebrate diversity on the planet has co-existed for centuries with Masaai pastoralists who are dependent for their livelihoods upon natural ecosystem functioning.

The western, post-war concept of wildlife conservation through protected areas is no longer appropriate for such a biodiversity-rich area as the E. A. Rift, with its important human populations. Establishing wildlife conservation areas in partnership with the lifestyles of local communities requires an understanding of the spatial context of biodiversity. In particular, it is necessary to know what is the minimum area necessary for effective conservation.

This minimum area is made up of several contributing factors. Species diversity is clearly important, but this is dependent upon habitat mosaics. Small wetlands are a major part of the mosaic and their functioning is critical to sustaining them, hence biodiversity, particularly through their role as dry-season refuges for wildlife and human stock. The use of the environment by the Masaai is closely tied to the spatial and temporal pattern of wetlands, so they impose a controlling function upon the ecosystem.

This PhD will seek to define the MVCA for the Southern Rift.