Jorge C. Llopis

Jorge has a background in geography, history and African studies, and over the past 9 years has conducted research on rural-urban linkages and migration in Senegal, and (more extensively) on land-use change in and around protected areas in diverse regions of Madagascar. His recently concluded (in May 2020) research within the ‘Managing Telecoupled Landscapes’ project focused on exploring the implications of telecoupled land-use change for the supply of ecosystem services in northeastern Madagascar, and how these dynamics affect local well-being. He combined Earth Observation/Remote Sensing and GIS methods with a participatory approach to assess land-use change in his four research sites. He further used qualitative methods to explore the relation between human well-being and supply of ecosystems services. In addition, he used Simulation Modelling (ABM/Predictive/Economic modelling) tools to investigate the spatially-explicit trade-offs and synergies in ecosystem services supply emerging from land-use change. Among other research interests, Jorge is particularly keen in understanding the influence of climatic extremes, as drought and cyclones, on land-use change, and to illuminate its implications for local socio-ecological resilience and vulnerability.