June 2013: NSF Support for Vulnerability Project in Kenya

Laura German (UGA Anthropology) and I received a NSF Coupled Human-Natural Systems Exploratory Grant to support vulnerability analysis of pastoralist systems in transition in Kenya. Long-time colleague Trenton Franz (who will join the faculty at University of Nebraska in Fall 2013) is also a consultant on the project.

(Photo shows herder shaking leaves and pods from Acacia tortilis tree to feed goats during drought. Interesting note: the grayish low vegetation in the background in Sansevieria volkensii, an unpalatable succulent plant that has proliferated as grass cover has declined. Its ecological dynamics are a subject of a different ongoing research project in our group.)