School of Earth and Environment

Susannah Sallu Dr Susannah Sallu

Lecturer: Environment & Development; Programme Manager: MSc Sustainability (Environment & Development)

Telephone number: +44(0) 113 34 31641
Email address: s.sallu@leeds.ac.uk
Room: 10.106

Biography

I am Lecturer in Environment and Development, Programme Manager of the MSc. Sustainability (Environment & Development) and Deputy Director of the Centre for Global Development, in the School of Earth and Environment at the University of Leeds.

My research is interdisciplinary using theories from both the natural and social sciences to understand the complexity and politics of social-ecological systems, with a focus on biodiversity, ecosystem services, livelihoods and human well-being in developing regions, particularly Africa. My research engages with theories of complexity, resilience, vulnerability and sustainability, and tackles challenges relating to climate change, biodiversity conservation, food security and poverty alleviation. My research aims to directly inform environmental and development policy and action. As such, I have strong partnerships with Universities, governments, NGOs and private sector organisations and am an active member of the Africa College partnership.

Before joining SRI in 2007, I conducted a PhD at the University of Oxford, an MSc. in Environmental Technology at Imperial College London and a BSc.(Hons.) in Tropical Environmental Science at the University of Abredeen. I have also worked for the Society for Environmental Exploration (a collaboration between Frontier UK and the University of Dar es Salaam) in Tanzania, Forest Research (UK Forestry Commission) and UNICEF.

Research Interests

Barriers and Limits to Adaptation

This research integrates knowledge from earth systems science, social science and the humanities to explore barriers and limits to climate change adaptation. The research involves the development of a new conceptual model to explore barriers and limits to adaptation, a review of empirial literature on the subject focussed on Africa and case study work in Africa, Asia, Americas and Australasia. For more information see: www.wun.ac.uk/research/limits_to_adaptation

Resilient pasts and sustainable futures? The social-ecological dynamics of East African landscapes in temporal, spatial and social perspectives (World Universities Network Development Fund)

Rob Marchant (University of York), Susannah Sallu (University of Leeds), Petra Tschakert (Penn State University), Ram Pandit (University of Western Australia), and Steve Cinderby (Stockholm Environment Institute) organised and attended a workshop hosted by colleagues at SEI-Africa and University of Dar es Salaam in 2012 to form a research grouping focused on the development of hybrid scenarios over the coming years, feeding into both existing projects and developing opportunities in this research area.

Climate Compatible Development Partnerships in Sub-Saharan Africa (World Universities Network Fund for International Research Collaborations) (2011-2014)

This project led by Susannah Sallu and Andy Dougill brings together climate change and rural development researchers, NGO practitioners, private sector partners from climate finance sector and government staff from three African countries (Malawi, Tanzania and Zambia). This research network aims to: 1) assess different practices in working with rural communities to assess the impacts and adaptations required to address climate change related problems experienced across sub-Saharan Africa; 2) facilitate the exchange of best practices in developing new multi-stakeholder public-private-research partnerships across different countries and stakeholder groups; and 3) strengthen links between, and develop research programme on the integration of climate change adaptation and mitigation for both policy and practice guidance.

Climate-Compatible Development Partnerships: Evaluating New Governance Systems for Valuing Ecosystem Services, Carbon Storage and Poverty Alleviation Benefits (ESRC White Rose Doctoral Training Centre) (2011-2014)

This network comprises three PhD studentships focusing on evaluating new governance systems for valuing ecosystem services, carbon storage and poverty alleviation benefits in East and Southern Africa. The projects are working closely together to ensure innovative trans-disciplinary (ie. both inter-disciplinary and stakeholder-engaged) research approaches are developed and applied, with best practice insights shared within the network. Projects are linked to partner institutions from the private sector, government departments and NGOs. I co-supervise students in this network alongside other staff at the Universities of Leeds, York and Sheffield.

Food Security, Adequate Care and Environment Quality: development and testing of eco-nutrition guidelines for community actions in the context of climate change in Malawi & Tanzania (funded by International Development Research Centre, IDRC) (2010-2014)

This project undertakes action-based research in collaboration with the Bunda College University of Malawi, Sokoine University of Agriculture and government ministries (Environment, Agriculture and Health) to investigate the relationships between environmental and human health. It is using a participatory approach to devise, establish and test community scale interventions that promote more nutritious and climate resilient food systems in Tanzania and Malawi. Resulting Eco-nutrition guidelines aim to inform policy in these countries and beyond.

Food and Ecosystem Services in Eastern Africa Ecosystem Services and Poverty Alleviation Project (Funded by the DFID/NERC/ESRC Ecosystem Services and Poverty Alleviation programme) (2010-2011)

This project facilitated the formation of a research consortium on Food and Ecosystem Services that includes academics, government, NGO, farmer and private sector representatives. In the context of Eastern Africa, a region that is experiencing pressure to increase agricultural productivity despite the wide-ranging predicted impacts of climate change, the project identified policy and practice-relevant research priorities and developed a research strategy for action in this field.

Capacity building in climate change and rural livelihoods in Malawi and Botswana (funded by DFID-British Council) (2008-2011)

Through research and capacity-building activities this Development Partnership in Higher Education (DelPHE) project, in collaboration Bunda College University of Malawi, University of Botswana, Malawi Meteorological Services and Action-Aid International, improved the capacity of stakeholders to understand how physical and economic models of climate change can support decisions. New teaching on Climate Change has been developed in Malawi and Botswana as a consequence.

Transforming Ghana's Land Policy for Sustainable Development (funded by DFID & the British Council (2007-2009)

This DelPHE project, in collaboration with the University of Cape Coast and Communication for Research and Development in Ghana, built institutional capacity regarding land reform policies in support of sustainable development initiatives in West Africa.

Biodiversity dynamics, knowledge and livelihoods in Kalahari dryland biomes of Botswana (funded by ESRC-NERC studentship, Slawson Award (RGS-IBG), Dudley Stamp Memorial Trust, Sir Richard Stapley Educational Trust, Sheffield University and Hertford College, University of Oxford) (2003-2007)

This project was conducted at the University of Oxford in collaboration with a UNDP GEF-funded project working in arid lands of Botswana, Kenya and Mali. The project investigated the key social and environmental dimensions of dryland biodiversity in two community-scale case studies in Botswana. Using a multi-method approach, this research focused on biodiversity as a concept through which a more holistic understanding of dynamics might be achieved. Informed by critical political ecology, this research placed a scientific investigation of biodiversity at the centre of its analysis of broader-scaled processes associated with environmental change. A multi-scaled investigation of biodiversity dynamics informed issues associated with rural livelihoods and knowledge.

Teaching

Susannah is the Programme Manager of the MSc Sustainability (Environment and Development) and manages the following modules in the School of Earth and Environment:

  • SOEE5483 Critical perspectives in Environment and Development
  • SOEE5495 Environment-Development Overseas Field Course
  • SOEE3420 Sustainable Development: Challenges Practice

Susannah also contributes teaching to the following modules:

  • SOEE1110 Sustainable Development: Concepts and Case Studies
  • SOEE2370 Poverty, Environment and Sustainable Development

Research students

Nicola Attarzadeh Policy and cost implications of addressing agriculture as a driver of deforestation within REDD+ and other PES schemes in Tanzania (White Rose ESRC Studentship, University of York) (2011-present).

Eleanor Jew Developing land management strategies for miombo woodland for biodiversity conservation, agricultural productivity and ecosystem service provision in Tanzania (NERC studentship) (2011-present).

Cristina Cleghorn The relationship between agrobiodiversity, food security, dietary diversity and nutritional status in Eastern Sub-Saharan Africa (University Scholarship) (2010-present)

Julia Latham Perceptions of governance: examining forest conservation policy at the community level in Tanzania and the implications for REDD+ (ESRC Studentship, University of York) (2009-present).

Emmanuel Kwayu The Role of Payments for Ecosystem Services on Poverty Alleviation and Watershed Conservation in Tanzania (DUCE Scholarship) (2009-present).

Salma Hegga Household flood preparedness in Kilosa District-Morogoro, Tanzania. (University of Southampton) (DUCE Scholarship) (2009-present).

Monirul Islam Vulnerability and Adaptation of Fisheries-Based Livelihoods of Bangladesh to Climate Variability and Change (Commonwealth Scholarship) (2009-present).

Past research students

Rose Cairns A critical analysis of the discourses of conservation and science on the Galápagos Islands (ESRC/NERC Studentship) (2008-2011).

Publications

  • 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
  • Cairns R; Sallu SM; Goodman S (2013) Questioning calls to consensus in conservation: a Q study of conservation discourses on Galápagos, Environmental Conservation: an international journal of environmental science, . doi: 10.1017/S0376892913000131
  • Twyman C; Fraser E; Stringer LC; Quinn C; Dougill AJ; Ravera F; Sallu SM (2011) Closing the Loop: Climate Science, Development Practice and Policy Interactions in Dryland Agro-Ecological Systems, Ecology and Society, 16, .
  • Sallu SM; Twyman C; Stringer LC (2010) Resilient or vulnerable livelihoods? Assessing livelihood dynamics and trajectories in rural Botswana., Ecology and Society, 15, .
  • Sallu SM; Twyman C; Thomas DSG (2009) The multidimensional nature of biodiversity and social dynamics and implications for contemporary rural livelihoods in remote Kalahari settlements, Botswana, AFR J ECOL, 47, pp.110-118.
  • Larsson TB; Sallu SM (2001) Biodiversity evaluation tools for European Forests, Ecological Bulletins, Blackwell.
  • Tschakert P; Ziervogel G; Sallu SM; Shackleton S; Alston M; Koelle B (Not yet published) A holistic conceptual framework for exploring barriers and limits to climate change adaptation, Environmental Science and Policy, .
  • Sallu S (Not yet published) Environmental Governance, Globalisation and Biodiversity in the Kalahari - a Focus on the Dynamics of Livelihood Access., In: UNEP (Ed) Indigenous Vegetation Project Series, .