Lindsay Stringer
Lindsay is Professor in Environment and Development at the Department of Environment and Geography at the University of York.
Her research advances understanding of human-environment relationships focusing on:
- The links between livelihoods and environment
- Science, policy and environmental governance, and
- The practical and policy mechanisms that can advance sustainable development.
In 2013, Lindsay was awarded a Philip Leverhulme Prize for her work on environmental change and sustainable development in drylands. In 2015 she was presented with a Women of Achievement Award. Lindsay was co-Director and then Director of the Sustainability Research Institute from 2011-2014.
Lindsay’s research is interdisciplinary and uses theories and methods from both the natural and social sciences. Her work engages significantly with research users, and is instrumental in informing international policy interventions through the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD). Lindsay is currently a Coordinating Lead Author for the Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) Regional Assessment for Africa, as well as Lead Author for the IPBES Land Degradation and Restoration Assessment. She is a member of the Economics of Land Degradation Initiative working group on Options and Pathways to Action and chairs the Independent Task Force of the CGIAR’s Research Programme on Dryland Systems, which is commissioned to develop a global research in development programme to achieve sustainable livelihoods for dryland populations that depend on agriculture.
Lindsay has worked and travelled in Africa, Asia-Pacific, Europe and the Americas. She has published more than 90 peer-reviewed articles in leading international journals, as well as a book, book chapters, working papers, book reviews, magazine articles and policy reports. She has presented her work at international conferences across the world. In addition, Lindsay has an international consultancy reputation, undertaking commissioned work on several occasions for the United Nations, as well as for the UK Government’s Department for International Development (DfID) and various other agencies and organisations.
Lindsay has recently been involved in projects funded by bodies such as the UK’s Joint Research Councils (NERC, ESRC, BBSRC) under the Rural Economy and Land Use Programme, the Leverhulme Trust, the European Commission (Framework Programmes 6 and 7), the British Academy, the Climate and Development Knowledge Network, the Economics of Land Degradation Initiative (through GIZ – Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit), and DfID/NERC/ESRC under the Ecosystem Services and Poverty Alleviation and Future Climate For Africa Programmes. She also participated in the inaugural Homeward Bound Project women in science leadership programme in Antarctica in December 2016.
Qualifications
BSc Geography (University of Sheffield); MSc Environmental Monitoring and Assessment in Drylands (University of Sheffield); PhD Geography (University of Sheffield)
Memberships/Fellowships
Lindsay sits on the editorial board of the journals Land Degradation and Development; and Resources. She is an elected advisory board member of international scientific network DesertNet International for which she also chairs the Food Security Working Group, and she represents the University of Leeds in the international OSLO consortium, where she provides scientific coordination. Lindsay is also a working group member for Global Soil Week and an IPCC reviewer.
Research Interests
Environmental and land use change (including social, political and economic dimensions); land degradation and desertification; participatory processes; livelihood dynamics; environmental governance.
Research articles
- Reorienting land degradation towards sustainable land management: Linking sustainable livelihoods with ecosystem services in rangeland systems
8 Dec 2020. Mark Reed, Lindsay Stringer, Andy Dougill, J.S. Perkins, Julius Atlhopheng, Nicola Favretto - Towards improved policy and institutional coherence in the promotion of sustainable biofuels in Mali
8 Dec 2020. Nicola Favretto, Lindsay Stringer, Andy Dougill - Land use, rangeland degradation and ecological changes in the southern Kalahari, Botswana
8 Dec 2020. Andy Dougill, J.S. Perkins, Lindsay Stringer, Nicola Favretto, Julius Atlhopheng - Unpacking Brazil’s leadership in the global biofuels arena: Brazilian ethanol diplomacy in Africa
8 Dec 2020. Stavros Afionis, Lindsay Stringer, Nicola Favretto, M. Buckeridge - Valuing Ecosystem Services in Semi-Arid Rangelands through Stochastic Simulation
8 Dec 2020. Nicola Favretto, Lindsay Stringer, Andy Dougill - Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis to identify dryland ecosystem service trade-offs under different rangeland land uses
8 Dec 2020. Nicola Favretto, Lindsay Stringer, Andy Dougill, Martin Dallimer, J.S. Perkins, Mark Reed, J.R. Atlhopheng - Links between climate change mitigation, adaptation and development in land policy and ecosystem restoration projects: lessons from South Africa
8 Dec 2020. Nicola Favretto, Andy Dougill, Lindsay Stringer, Stavros Afionis, Claire Quinn - Understanding the implications of alternative bioenergy crops to support smallholder farmers in Brazil
8 Dec 2020. Paola Sakai, Stavros Afionis, Nicola Favretto, Lindsay Stringer, Caroline Ward, Marco Sakai - Delivering climate-development co-benefits through multi-stakeholder forestry projects in Madagascar: opportunities and challenges.
8 Dec 2020. Nicola Favretto, Lindsay Stringer, Andy Dougill, Claire Quinn - Adaptation opportunities and maladaptive outcomes in climate vulnerability hotspots of northern Ghana
18 Mar 2018. Philip Antwi-Agyei, Andy Dougill, Lindsay Stringer, Samuel Nii Ardey Codjoe - How do sectoral policies support climate compatible development? An empirical analysis focusing on southern Africa
23 Jan 2018. Stavros Afionis, Matthew England, Lindsay Stringer, Andy Dougill - Socially Just Triple-Wins? A Framework for Evaluating the Social Justice Implications of Climate Compatible Development
18 Jan 2018. Ben Wood, Lindsay Stringer, Andy Dougill, Claire Quinn - Integrating climate adaptation, water governance and conflict management policies in lake riparian zones: Insights from African drylands
18 Nov 2017. Uche Okpara, Lindsay Stringer, Andy Dougill - Assessing coherence between sector polices and climate compatible development: opportunities for triple wins
18 Nov 2017. Philip Antwi-Agyei, Andy Dougill, Lindsay Stringer - How do sectoral policies support climate compatible development? An empirical analysis focusing on southern Africa,
18 Oct 2017. Matthew England, Lindsay Stringer, Andy Dougill, Stavros Afionis - Investigating Climate Compatible Development Outcomes and their Implications for Distributive Justice: Evidence from Malawi
18 May 2017. Ben Wood, Claire Quinn, Lindsay Stringer, Andy Dougill - Lake drying and livelihood dynamics in Lake Chad: unravelling the mechanisms, contexts and responses
1 Nov 2016. Andy Dougill, Lindsay Stringer, Uche Okpara - Exploring power and procedural justice within Climate Compatible Development design: whose priorities are being considered?
17 Aug 2016. Ben Wood, Lindsay Stringer, Andy Dougill, Claire Quinn - Using a novel climate–water conflict vulnerability index to capture double exposures in Lake Chad
6 Jul 2016. Lindsay Stringer, Andy Dougill, Uche Okpara - Designing a new science-policy communication mechanism for the UN Convention to Combat Desertification
6 Jun 2016. Lindsay Stringer - Challenges to polycentric governance of an international development project tackling land degradation in Swaziland
6 Jun 2016. Lindsay Stringer - Perspectives on contextual vulnerability in discourses of climate conflict
8 Feb 2016. Uche Okpara, Lindsay Stringer, Andy Dougill - Perspectives on contextual vulnerability in discourses of climate conflict
1 Feb 2016. Andy Dougill, Lindsay Stringer, Uche Okpara - Impacts of land tenure arrangements on the adaptive capacity of marginalized groups: The case of Ghana’s Ejura Sekyedumase and Bongo districts
5 Nov 2015. Philip Antwi-Agyei, Andy Dougill, Lindsay Stringer - Impacts of aquaculture on social networks in the mangrove systems of northern Vietnam
1 Oct 2015. Lindsay Stringer, Claire Quinn - Conflicts about water in Lake Chad: Are environmental, vulnerability and security issues linked?
1 Oct 2015. Uche Okpara, Lindsay Stringer, Andy Dougill - Enhancing climate services for national planning in sub-Saharan Africa: lessons from Malawi
20 Aug 2015. Katharine Vincent, Andy Dougill, Jami Dixon, Lindsay Stringer - Mangrove system dynamics in Southeast Asia: linking livelihoods and ecosystem services in Vietnam
12 May 2015. Lindsay Stringer, Claire Quinn - Unraveling the Notion of “Fair Carbon”: Key Challenges for Standards Development
25 Mar 2015. Anne Tallontire, Lindsay Stringer, Rob Marchant - Critical reflection on knowledge and narratives of conservation agriculture
1 Mar 2015. Stephen Whitfield, Andy Dougill, Felix Kalaba, J. Leventon, Lindsay Stringer - Delivering community benefits through REDD : Lessons from Joint Forest Management in Zambia
1 Jul 2014. J. Leventon, Felix Kalaba, Lindsay Stringer, Andy Dougill - Challenges and opportunities for carbon management in Malawi and Zambia
10 Apr 2014. Lindsay Stringer, Andy Dougill, David Mkwambisi, Felix Kalaba, Mtisunge Mngoli - Farming System Evolution and Adaptive Capacity
27 Feb 2014. Jami Dixon, Lindsay Stringer, Andy Challinor - Land management and policy responses to mitigate desertification and land degradation
11 Feb 2014. Luuk Fleskens, Lindsay Stringer - Time-series analysis of policies and market prices for provisioning ecosystem services in Botswana’s Kalahari rangelands
1 Feb 2014. Nicola Favretto, Lindsay Stringer, Andy Dougill, J.S. Perkins, J.R. Atlhopheng, Mark Reed, A. Thomas and K. Mulale - Regime complexes and national policy coherence: Experiences in the biodiversity cluster
1 Jan 2014. Velázquez Gomar, Lindsay Stringer, Jouni Paavola - Autonomous household adaptation to multiple climate and socio-economic stresses: Evidence from Zanzibar, Tanzania.
1 Jan 2014. Natalie Suckall, Emma Tompkins, Lindsay Stringer - Land degradation in Dolj County, southern Romania: envirionmental changes, impacts and responses
6 Dec 2013. Lindsay Stringer, A. Harris - Experiences of host communities with carbon market projects: towards multi-level climate justice
2 Dec 2013. Stavros Afionis, Jouni Paavola, Andy Dougill, Lindsay Stringer - The environment as a strategic priority in the European Union?Brazil partnership: is the EU behaving as a normative power or soft imperialist?
22 Nov 2013. Stavros Afionis, Lindsay Stringer - Unpacking livelihood challenges and opportunities in energy crop cultivation: perspectives on Jatropha curcas projects in Mali.
28 Oct 2013. Nicola Favretto, Lindsay Stringer, Andy Dougill - Advancing climate compatible development: lessons from southern Africa.
19 Sep 2013. Lindsay Stringer, Andy Dougill, Katharine Vincent, Florian Fritzsche, Julia Leventon, Mario Paulo Falcão, Pascal Manyakaidze, Stephen Syampungani, Philip Powell, Gabriel Kalaba - Livelihoods adaptations to climate variability: insights from farming households in Ghana
18 Mar 2013. Philip Antwi-Agyei, Lindsay Stringer, Andy Dougill - Participation in environmental conservation and protected area management in Romania: A review of three case studies
26 Feb 2013. Lindsay Stringer, Jouni Paavola - Is rainfall really changing? Farmers’ perceptions, meteorological data, and policy implications.
12 Feb 2013. Elisabeth Simelton, Claire Quinn, Nnyaladzi Batisanic, Andy Dougill, Evan Fraser, David Dalison Mkwambisie, Susannah Sallu, Lindsay Stringer - Channelling science into policy: enabling best practices from research on land degradation and sustainable land management in dryland Africa.
15 Jan 2013. Lindsay Stringer, Andy Dougill - Characterising the nature of household vulnerability to climate variability: empirical evidence from two regions in Ghana.
21 Nov 2012. Philip Antwi-Agyei, Andy Dougill, Evan Fraser, Lindsay Stringer - Lessons from community-based payment for ecosystem service schemes: from forests to rangelands
8 Oct 2012. Andrew Dougill, Lindsay Stringer, Julia Leventon, Mike Riddell, Henri Rueff, Dominick Spracklen, Edward Butt - Bioenergy project appraisal in sub-Saharan Africa: sustainability barriers and opportunities in Zambia.
13 Sep 2012. Ian Duvenage, Ros Taplin, Lindsay Stringer - Using principal component analysis for information-rich socio-ecological vulnerability mapping in Southern Africa
29 Aug 2012. David Abson, Andrew Dougill, Lindsay Stringer - Towards implementation and achievement of sustainable biofuel development in Africa.
26 Jun 2012. Ian Duvenage, Ros Taplin, Lindsay Stringer - Challenges and opportunities in linking carbon sequestration, livelihoods and ecosystem service provision in drylands.
26 Apr 2012. Lindsay Stringer, Andy Dougill - European Union leadership in biofuels regulation: Europe as a normative power?
5 Apr 2012. Stavros Afionis, Lindsay Stringer - How do end of life scenarios influence the environmental impact of product supply chains? Comparing biomaterial and petrochemical products
13 Feb 2012. David Glewa, Lindsay Stringer, Adolf Acquaye, Simon McQueen-Mason - Fertile ground? Options for a science?policy platform for land.
4 Jan 2012. Richard Thomas, Mariam Akhtar-Schuster, Lindsay Stringer, María José Marqués, Richard Escadafal, Elena María Abraham, Giuseppe Enne - Towards a global authority on desertification and land degradation
1 Jan 2012. Lindsay Stringer, L. Gnacadja - Moving towards sustainability? An analysis of CITES’ conservation policies.
29 Aug 2011. José Octavio, Velázquez Gomar, Lindsay Stringer - Mapping the vulnerability of crop production to drought in Ghana using rainfall, yield and socioeconomic data.
20 Jul 2011. Philip Antwi-Agyeia, Evan Fraser, Andy Dougill, Lindsay Stringer, Elisabeth Simelton - Household and policy adaptations to climate change and desertification: perspectives from Malawi
8 Jun 2011. Lindsay Stringer, David Mkwambisi, Andy Dougill - Integrated land degradation monitoring and assessment: horizontal knowledge management at the national and international levels
24 Feb 2011. P. Chasek, W. Essahli, Mariam Akhtar-Schuster, Lindsay Stringer, Richard J. Thomas - Cross-scale monitoring and assessment of land degradation and sustainable land management: a methodological framework for knowledge management
25 Jan 2011. Mark Reed, Michaela Buenemann, Julius Atlhopheng, Mariam Akhtar-Schuster, Felicitas Bachmann, G. Bastin, Harriet Bigas, R. Chanda, Andy Dougill, W. Essahli, Anna C. Evely, Luuk Fleskens, N. Geeson, Jayne H. Glass, Rudi Hessel, Joseph Holden, Antonio Augusto Rossotto Ioris, B. Kruger, Hanspeter P. Liniger, Wanda Mphinyane, Doan Nainggolan, Jeremy Perkins, Christopher M. Raymond, Coen J. Ritsema, Gudrun Schwilch, Reuben Sebego, Mary Seely, Lindsay Stringer, Richard Thomas, Steve Twomlow, Simone Verzandvoort - Jatropha curcas: sowing local seeds of success in Malawi? In response to Achten et al (2010)
24 Jan 2011. Lindsay Stringer, Andy Dougill - Climate science, development practice, and policy interactions in dryland agroecological systems.
1 Jan 2011. Chasca Twyman, Evan Fraser, Lindsay Stringer, Claire Quinn, Andy Dougill, Federica Ravera, Todd Crane, Susannah Sallu - Appropriate climate change solutions: towards sustainable bioenergy agro-production in Africa for energy equality and poverty alleviation
1 Jan 2011. Ian Duvenage, Roslyn Taplin, Lindsay Stringer - Improving the enabling environment to combat land degradation: institutional, financial, legal and science-policy challenges and solutions.
21 Nov 2010. Mariam Akhtar-Schuster, Richard J. Thomas, Lindsay Stringer, P. Chasek, Mary Seely - The onsite cost of gully erosion and cost-benefit of gully rehabilitation: a case study in Ethiopia
14 Nov 2010. T. W. Yitbarek, Satishkumar Belliethathan, Lindsay Stringer - Adaptation strategies for reducing vulnerability to future environmental change
1 Oct 2010. Ioan Fazey, Javier G.P. Gamarra, Joern Fischer, Mark Reed, Lindsay Stringer, Mike Christie - Expand scientific input to address environmental effects
16 Jun 2010. Lindsay Stringer, Richard J. Thomas, Mariam Akhtar-Schuster - Integrating local and scientific knowledge for environmental management.
22 Apr 2010. Christopher M. Raymond, Loan Fazey, Mark Reed, Lindsay Stringer, Guy M. Robinson, Anna C. Evely - Resilient or vulnerable livelihoods? Assessing livelihood dynamics and trajectories in rural Botswana
1 Jan 2010. Susannah Sallu, Chasca Twyman, Lindsay Stringer - What is Social Learning?
1 Jan 2010. Mark Reed, Anna C. Evely, Georgina Cundill, Ioan Fazey, Jayne Glass, Adele Laing, Jens Newig, Brad Parrish, Christina Prell, Chris Raymond, Lindsay Stringer - Adaptation to climate change and desertification: Perspectives from national policy and autonomous practice in Malawi
1 Jan 2010. Lindsay Stringer, David Mkwambisi, Andy Dougill - Adaptations to climate change, drought and desertification: insights to enhance policy in southern Africa.
1 Nov 2009. Lindsay Stringer, Mark Reed, Andy Dougill, Chasca Twyman, David Mkwambisi - The role of science in the global governance of desertification
8 Jul 2009. Steffen Bauer, Lindsay Stringer - Reviewing the links between desertification and food insecurity: from parallel challenges to synergistic solutions.
13 Mar 2009. Lindsay Stringer - Governing long-term social-ecological change: what can the adaptive management and transition management approaches learn from each other?
23 Jan 2009. Tim Foxon, Mark Reed, Lindsay Stringer - Governing long-term socio-ecological change: What can resilience and transitions approaches learn from each other?
23 Jan 2009. Tim Foxon, Mark Reed, Lindsay Stringer - Explaining agricultural collapse: macro-forces, micro-crises and the emergence of land use vulnerability in southern Romania.
4 Jan 2009. Evan Fraser, Lindsay Stringer - Adaptations to climate change, drought and desertification: local insights to enhance policy in southern Africa.
1 Jan 2009. Lindsay Stringer, Andy Dougill, Mark Reed, Chasca Twyman, David Mkwambisi - Biodiversity, land degradation, and climate change: participatory planning in Romania.
16 Oct 2008. Lindsay Stringer, S.Serban Scrieciu, Mark Reed - Learning from the South: common challenges and solutions for small-scale farming.
22 Aug 2008. Lindsay Stringer, Chasca Twyman, Leah M. Gibbs - Reviewing the international year of deserts and desertification 2006: what contribution towards combating global desertification and implementing the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification?
31 Jul 2008. Lindsay Stringer - The transformation of post-communist societies in Central and Eastern Europe and the Former Soviet Union: an economic and ecological sustainability perspective.
13 Jun 2008. S.Serban Scrieciu, Lindsay Stringer - Testing the orthodoxies of land degradation policy in Swaziland
15 May 2008. Lindsay Stringer - Can the UN Convention to Combat Desertification guide sustainable use of the world’s soils?
1 Apr 2008. Lindsay Stringer - Approaches to governing long-term social-ecological change: comparing adaptive management and transition management.
1 Jan 2008. Tim Foxon, Lindsay Stringer, Mark Reed
Books
- Land degradation, desertification and climate change: Anticipating, assessing and adapting to future change
26 Apr 2016 - The Environment in Latin America and the Caribbean in the aftermath of the Rio 20 Summit
1 Jan 2013
Working papers
- Identifying opportunities for coherence between the intended Nationally Determined Contributions and the Sustainable Development Goals: the case of ECOWAS member states
6 Jun 2017 - Climate change adaptation and cross-sectoral policy coherence in southern Africa
7 Apr 2017 - Exploring power and procedural justice within Climate-Compatible Development project design: whose priorities are being considered?
11 Feb 2016 - Spatio-temporal analyses of impacts of multiple climatic hazards in the savannah ecosystem of Ghana
20 Jan 2016 - Spatial mapping of vulnerability to multi-hazards in the savanna ecosystem in Ghana
17 Nov 2015 - Adaptation to climatic hazards in the savannah ecosystem: improving adaptation policy and action
6 Jun 2015 - Which “fairness”, for whom, and why? Broadening inputs for a standard designed to certify “fairtrade carbon credits”
6 Jun 2015 - Combining nexus and resilience thinking in a novel framework to enable more equitable and just outcomes
6 Oct 2014 - What lays at stake for standards organisations pursuing fairness in the carbon market? Lessons from literature applied to practice in the carbon market
1 Oct 2014 - Barriers to climate change adaptation in sub-Saharan Africa: evidence from northeast Ghana & systematic literature review
1 Oct 2014 - The importance of the sub-district level for community-based natural resource management in rural Zimbabwe
6 Jul 2014 - Exploring mangrove social-ecological system dynamics in South-East Asia: linking livelihoods, vulnerability and ecosystem services in Vietnam
1 Mar 2014 - Unpacking livelihood challenges and opportunities in energy crop cultivation: perspectives on Jatropha curcas projects in Mali
7 Apr 2013 - Policy and institutional frameworks for the promotion of sustainable biofuels in Mali
1 Sep 2012 - Characterising the nature of vulnerability to climate variability: empirical evidence from two regions of Ghana
1 Sep 2012 - Spatial mapping of socio-ecological vulnerability to environmental change in Southern Africa
1 Jun 2012 - Cultivating clean energy in Mali: policy analysis and livelihood impacts of Jatropha curcas
1 Feb 2012 - Challenges and opportunities in linking carbon sequestration, dryland livelihoods and ecosystem service provision
1 Jan 2012 - Resilient or vulnerable livelihoods? Assessing livelihood dynamics and trajectories in rural Botswana
1 Sep 2011 - Mapping the vulnerability of crop production to drought in Ghana using rainfall, yield and socioeconomic data
1 Mar 2011
Policy publications
- Applying a Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis to identify ecosystem service trade-offs under four different land uses in Botswana’s Kalahari rangelands
Policy publications, 8 Dec 2020 - Links between climate change mitigation, adaptation and development in land policy and ecosystem restoration projects: lessons from South Africa
Policy publications, 8 Dec 2020 - Policy coherence for climate-sensitive planning in Ghana
Policy publications, 8 Dec 2020
- Adapting conservation projects to benefit communities and climate
1 Jun 2020 - Stories from the South Pole: A pioneer speaks
2 Mar 2017 - Effects of climate change greater than previously feared
13 May 2016 - Mangroves, nature’s shield against typhoons and tsunami (on theconversation.com)
4 Dec 2013 - Is rainfall really changing? Farmers’ perceptions, meteorological data and the problem of saying ‘climate change’ in Chichewa and Setswana (on homepages.see.leeds.ac.uk)
15 Feb 2013