As Woody Weeds enters into its second phase, a new cohort of four PhD students has joined the project. In January, they all attended the Woody Weeds project meeting in Moshi, Tanzania, where – for the first time – they presented their research plans to the other project partners. In line with the second phase’s main objectives, the students will investigate sustainable land management (SLM) options for mitigating the negative impacts of woody invasive species.
All PhD and MSc students of the Woody Weeds project.
Beatrice Adoyo (Kenya) will focus on SLM technologies and approaches, as well as institutional barriers towards Prosopis management in Baringo County. Boniphace Nkombe (Tanzania) will evaluate the same but with a focus on Lantana Camara in the East Usambara Mountains. Mickfanaka Mwihomeke, also from Tanzania but based in Nairobi, will assess the effects of invasive plan control measures on biodiversity, ecosystem services and rural livelihoods. Finally, Urs Baumgartner (Switzerland) will attempt establishing overall principles of SLM strategies for the mitigation of the negative effect of woody invasive species in Kenya, Tanzania, and Ethiopia.
The project management and the entire project team welcomes the new PhD students and wishes them a good start in their exciting new scientific venture!