A (Amanda) Cooke
Biography
My research and professional interests lie at the crossroads between tropical ecological conservation, restoration, and sustainable livelihoods such as organic agriculture, agroforestry, and non-timber forest products. I recently joined the REFOREST-IT! Project as a PhD candidate in the Forest Ecology and Forest Management and Forest and Nature Conservation Policy Groups at WUR and in the LASTROP lab at ESALQ of the University of São Paulo, Brazil. My thesis project is part of Project NewFor, a collaboration between LASTROP and FEM that aims to identify drivers of Brazilian Atlantic Forest restoration success, quantify ecosystem services and benefits of restored forests, and inform guidelines and policies to scale restoration to millions of hectares. My thesis examines the viability of carbon credit-financed restoration projects in this region, including how to manage trade-offs between carbon sequestration and biodiversity co-benefits.
REFOREST-IT!