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Lauren Persha
Department of Geography, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
319-A Saunders Hall, Campus Box 3220, Chapel Hill, NC 27599-3220.
PHONE: 919.843.4497 | E-MAIL: lpersha@email.unc.edu
Ph.D.
B.A.
EDUCATION
Environmental Science, Indiana University, School of Public and Environmental Affairs (2003-2008)
Biology, Carleton College (1993-1997)
PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
ACADEMIC APPOINTMENTS
2012- present
Faculty Fellow, Carolina Population Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
2011–present
Assistant Professor, Department of Geography; adjunct appointment with the Curriculum for the
Environment and Ecology, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
2011–present
Faculty Fellow, Center for Urban and Regional Studies, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
2011
Visiting Scholar, School of Natural Resources and Environment, University of Michigan. International
Forestry Resources and Institutions (IFRI) Research Program.
2009-2011
Postdoctoral Research Fellow, School of Natural Resources and Environment, University of Michigan.
International Forestry Resources and Institutions (IFRI) Research Program.
2008-2009
Visiting Scholar, Department of Geography, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
OTHER PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
2000-2003
Program Officer, United Nations Development Programme - Global Environment Facility (UNDP-GEF)
project: “Reducing Biodiversity Loss at Cross-Border Sites in East Africa”, Arusha, Tanzania.
1998-1999
Project Assistant, UNDP-GEF project: “Reducing Biodiversity Loss at Cross-Border Sites in East Africa”,
Arusha, Tanzania.
CONSULTING
(1) Cloudburst Group, Inc. / USAID STARR ERC REDD+ Tenure and Global Climate Change Impact Evaluation: Randomized
control trial of land tenure and property rights strengthening impacts on climate-smart agriculture in Zambia. Roles: impact
evaluation design; household survey and qualitative instruments design; methods support for baseline data collection and
analysis (1/2014 – present); (2) Social Impact, Inc. / USAID EDGE-IE project “Impact Evaluation of a Local Governance and
Natural Resource Management Program in Ecuador”, Role: impact evaluation design (6/2013 – 8/2013); (3) IFRI / Rights
and Resources Initiative, “Mapping Forest Cover and Poverty Globally” (2/2012 – 9/2012).
BOOK CHAPTERS and OTHER REFEREED PUBLICATIONS
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2015. Persha, L. and C. Meshack. Is Tanzania’s Joint Forest Management Program a Triple Win? Understanding Causal
Pathways for Livelihoods, Governance and Forest Conditions Impacts. 3ie Grantee Final Report. New Delhi:
International Initiative for Impact Evaluation (3ie). [Draft final report available here]
2012. Persha, L., A. Chhatre, A. Agrawal and E. Ostrom. Managing Forest Commons in Africa. Pp 402-408 in The
Oxford Companion to the Economics of Africa. Aryeetey, Devarjan, Kanbur, and Kasekende, Eds. Oxford
University Press.
2010. Persha, L. and A. Agrawal. Common Property Theory, Elinor Ostrom, and the International Forestry Resources
and Institutions Research (IFRI) Network. Current Conservation 4(3):9-11.
2009. Ojha, H., L. Persha, and A. Chhatre. Seeing the forest through the trees: Community forestry in Nepal. Pp47-52
in D.J. Spielman and R. Pandya-Lorch (Eds) Millions Fed: Proven Successes in Agricultural Development.
International Food Policy Research Institute, Washington, D.C.
2009. Ojha, H., L. Persha, and A. Chhatre. Community forestry in Nepal: A policy innovation for local livelihoods.
IFPRI Discussion Paper. International Food Policy Research Institute, Washington, D.C. Available at:
http://www.ifpri.org/sites/default/files/publications/ifpridp00913.pdf
2002. Rodgers, W.A., R. Nabanyumya, E. Mupada, and L. Persha. Community conservation of closed forest
biodiversity in East Africa: can it work? Unasylva 209: 41-47.
Persha CV; 29 March 2015
REFEREED JOURNAL PUBLICATIONS
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(in press) N. Torpey-Saboe, K. Andersson, E. Mwangi, L. Persha, C. Salk, and G. Wright. Benefit sharing among local
resource users: The role of property rights. World Development http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.worlddev.2015.03.005
2014. Agrawal, A., L. Wollenberg, and L. Persha. Governing agriculture-forest landscapes to achieve climate change
mitigation. Global Environmental Change 29:270-280.
2014. Persha, L. and K. Andersson. Elite capture risk and mitigation in decentralized forest governance regimes.
Global Environmental Change 24(1): 265-276.
2014. Donadelli, M. and L. Persha. Understanding emerging market equity risk premia: Industries, governance and
macroeconomic policy uncertainty. Research in International Business and Finance 30(1): 284-309.
2013. Cazzavillan, G., M. Donadelli, and L. Persha. Economic growth and poverty traps in sub-Saharan Africa: The roles
of Education and TFP shocks. Research in Economics 67(3):226-242.
2011. Persha, L., A. Agrawal and A. Chhatre. Social and Ecological Synergy: Local Rulemaking, Forest Livelihoods and
Biodiversity Conservation. Science 331:1606-1608.
2010. Persha, L., H. Fischer, A. Chhatre, A. Agrawal, and C. Benson. Biodiversity conservation and livelihoods in
human-dominated landscapes: Forest commons in South Asia. Biological Conservation 143(12): 2918-2925.
2010. Hayes, T. and L. Persha. Nesting local forestry initiatives: Revisiting community forest management in a REDD+
world. Forest Policy and Economics 12(8): 545-553.
2009. Persha, L. and T. Blomley. Management decentralization and montane forest conditions in Tanzania.
Conservation Biology 23(6): 1485-1496.
2008. Tucker, C., J.C. Randolph, T. Evans, K. P. Andersson, L. Persha and G. M. Green. An approach to assess relative
degradation in dissimilar forests: toward a comparative assessment of institutional outcomes. Ecology and Society
13(1): Article 4.
In Review
17. L. Persha, C. Meshack, and T. Blomley. Improving the evidence base for how decentralized forest management impacts
conservation and livelihoods: location biases and evaluation implications for Tanzania’s Joint Forest Management.
In Prep
1. L. Persha and C. Meshack. Forest sector decentralization impacts on multiple governance, livelihoods and conservation
goals: Evidence from a large-scale quasi-experiment of Tanzania’s JFM.
2. L. Persha. Grounding the good governance agenda? Rule-making, institutional nestedness and benefit-sharing in
Tanzania’s forest sector.
3. L. Persha, and Hayes, T. Empirical Assessment of Complex Social-Ecological Systems: Methods to meet the challenges
of measuring complexity and change in sustainable resource management.
4. L. Persha, M.M. Stickler, and H. Huntington. Does stronger land tenure security incentivize smallholder climate-smart
agriculture? Understanding drivers of agricultural investment in Zambia’s Eastern Province.
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WORKING PAPERS and REPORTS
2015. Persha, L. M.M. Stickler, and H. Huntington. Does stronger land tenure security incentivize smallholder
climate-smart agriculture? Understanding drivers of agricultural investment in Zambia’s Eastern Province.
[2015 World Bank Land and Poverty Conference paper]
2005. Persha, L., K. P. Andersson, T. P. Evans, J. C. Randolph, and C. M. Tucker. Methods for assessing forest
conditions: the complementarity of quantitative and qualitative approaches. Working Paper No. CWP-05-05.
Center for the Study of Institutions, Population, and Environmental Change, Indiana University.
2002. Persha, L. and W.A. Rodgers. Threat Reduction Assessment in the UNDP-GEF East African Cross Borders
Biodiversity Project: Experiences with a New ICDP Monitoring Tool. The Arc Journal, Issue. No. 14. Tanzania
Forest Conservation Group, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.
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Persha CV; 29 March 2015
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CONFERENCE TALKS, INVITED PRESENTATIONS
2015. “Does stronger land tenure security incentivize smallholder climate-smart agriculture? Understanding drivers of
agricultural investment in Zambia’s Eastern Province”. World Bank Conference on Land and Poverty, Washington, DC.
(3/25/2015) (with H. Huntington and M. Stickler)
2014. “Empirical Assessment of Complex Social-Ecological Systems: Methodological Frontiers for Measuring
Complexity and Change in Sustainable Resource Management”. Presentation and Panel Co-organizer (with T. Hayes),
Workshop on the Ostrom Workshop Conference, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN (6/18/2014).
2013. “Grounding the good governance agenda: Why should institutional change improve livelihoods and natural
resource sustainability, and by what mechanisms?” Duke Marine Lab, Invited Colloquium, Beaufort, NC (10/8/2013).
2013. “Grounding the good governance agenda? Rule-making, institutional nestedness and benefit-sharing in
Tanzania’s forest sector”. Central African Forests and Institutions (CAFI) Conference, Paris, France (9/20/2013).
2013. “Unpacking the role(s) of governance for improved livelihoods and conservation”. (Invited talk in organized
symposium on: ‘Policy Insights from the Frontiers of Evidence-based Conservation’). International Congress for
Conservation Biology Annual Meeting, Baltimore, MD. (7/23/2013).
2013. “Local impacts of tropical forest change”. SESYNC Land-change meta-analysis workshop, National SocioEnvironmental Synthesis Center (SESYNC), Annapolis, MD. (6/4/2013)
2013. “Elite capture risk and mitigation in decentralized forest governance regimes.” American Association of
Geographers Annual Meeting, Los Angeles, CA. (4/9/2013) (with K. Andersson)
2013. “Evaluating Forest Sector Decentralization in Tanzania: A triple win for livelihoods, governance and forests?”.
African Studies Center, Carolina Seminar Series in African Ecology and Social Processes, UNC. (3/22/2013)
2012. “How can more rigorous research designs better inform the design and more appropriate targeting of evidencebased policies for improved livelihoods and forests?” Experts’ Meeting on Social Impact Assessment Methodologies for
National or sub-National REDD+. Learning Initiative on Social Impact of REDD+, Nairobi, Kenya. (5/9/2012)
2012. “Forest Livelihoods, Governance and Biodiversity Conservation: Why do rule-making issues matter?” Curriculum
for Ecology and the Environment Colloquium Series, UNC. (4/12/2012)
2012. “Elite capture risk and institutional mitigation in decentralized forest governance regimes.” Planet Under
Pressure Conference, London, UK. (3/28/2012) (with K. Andersson)
2012. “Forest Governance and Resource Sustainability in the Low-Income Tropics: Searching for causal pathways to
improved livelihoods and biodiversity conservation” Carolina Population Center Colloquium Series, UNC. (2/3/2012)
2011. “Models, mechanisms and mediators: Uncovering multiple causal pathways to improved forest livelihoods and
biodiversity conservation”. Annual Institute on Joint Outcomes Related to Sustainability, Univ of Michigan. (9/30/2011)
2011. “Identifying multiple causal pathways to improved forest livelihoods and biodiversity conservation”. Exploring
the Forest-Poverty Link: CIFOR-PEN Science Workshop. Univ. of East Anglia, UK. (6/14/2011) (with A. Agrawal)
2011. “Vegetation diversity and forest-based livelihoods relationships: Comparative analyses from East African and
South East Asian forest commons”. International Association for the Study of the Commons (IASC) Annual Meeting,
Hyderabad, India. in organized panel on Lessons and Limitations of Comparative Research on Forests and Forest
Commons (Panel Organizer: Lauren Persha). (1/11/2011) (with A. Agrawal and A. Chhatre)
2010. “Vegetation diversity and forest-based livelihoods in East African forest commons“. CAFI/STEM-Africa Science
Environments in Africa Research Conference. University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI.
2009. “Forest Institutional Mosaics, Biodiversity Conservation, and Sustainable Livelihoods in Human-dominated
Tropical Landscapes”. Society for Conservation Biology Annual Meeting, Beijing, China. (with A. Chhatre, A. Agrawal
and R. Ghate)
2008. “Decentralized Forest Management, Anthropogenic Disturbance Patterns and Forest Change in the Usambara
Mountains, Tanzania”. University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, School of Integrative Biology, Ecolunch Series.
2008. “Disturbance History and Aboveground Biomass in 4 Afro-tropical Montane Forests”. Ecological Society of
America Annual Meeting, Milwaukee, WI.
2008. “Evaluating Forest Devolution in Tanzania: Policy-driven Differences in Local Forest Institutions, Human
Disturbance, and Afro-montane Forest Conditions”. Society for Conservation Biology Annual Meeting, Chattanooga, TN.
2008. “Disparate Selective Logging Patterns, Forest Structure and Species Composition in 4 Afro-tropical Montane
forests of Tanzania”. Association for Tropical Biology and Conservation Annual Meeting, Paramaribo, Suriname.
2008. “Convergent Effects of Disparate Anthropogenic Forest Disturbance Patterns on Afro-montane Tropical Forest
Structure and Composition”. American Association of Geographers Annual Meeting, Boston, MA.
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Persha CV; 29 March 2015
23. 2007. “Strengthening Participatory Forest Management in Tanzania’s Catchment Forest Reserves”. Development
Working Group Seminar Series, Indiana University, Workshop in Political Theory and Policy Analysis.
24. 2005. “Research Overview: A Comparative Study of the Effects of Management Regime on Forest Structure and
Disturbance Patterns in the Usambara Mountains: 1990-2005”. Danish International Development Agency – Tanzanian
Forest and Beekeeping Division Research Conference on Participatory Forest Management in Tanzania. Sokoine
University of Agriculture, Morogoro, Tanzania.
25. 2003. “TBNRM initiatives in East Africa: UNDP-GEF Case Studies”. InWEnt-GTZ-IUCN Workshop on Transboundary
Protected Areas: Guiding Approaches and Processes in East Africa. Mweka College of African Wildlife Management,
Moshi, Tanzania. (with J. Salehe and A. Rodgers)
TEACHING and MENTORING ACTIVITIES
Courses Taught (number of students)
• Ecological Applications (ECOL / ENST 567), UNC-CH: Fall 2012 (7), Fall 2013 (12).
• Communicating Geography (GEOG 704), UNC-CH: Fall 2011 (5), Fall 2012 (10), Fall 2013 (9), Fall 2014 (7).
• Environmental Conservation (GEOG 112/212), UNC-CH: Spring 2012 (35), Spring 2013 (37), Spring 2015 (30).
• Geography of Africa (GEOG 268), UNC-CH: Spring 2012 (18), Spring 2013 (18).
• Conservation and Development (NRE 501), University of Michigan: Winter 2010 (24).
Graduate Advising at UNC
• Hillary Smith, M.A. (in progress), UNC Geography
• Matt Cooper, M.A. (in progress), UNC Geography
Graduate Student Committees
• Margit Bertalan, PhD, Curriculum for the Environment and Ecology, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
• Nathan Clay, M.S. (2011) School of Natural Resources and Environment, University of Michigan
• Walker DePuy, M.S. (2011) School of Natural Resources and Environment, University of Michigan
• Kayla Yurco, M.S. (2011) School of Natural Resources and Environment, University of Michigan
Advising for UNC Undergraduate Honors Thesis
• Morgan Bettcher, B.A. (Committee Member – 2013/14)
• Shampa Panda, B.S.P.H. (Committee Member – 2013)
AWARDS and GRANTS
2014-2018.
UK Department for International Development (DFID), “Estimating Global Dependence of Livelihoods on
Forests and the Impacts of Forest Investments”, PI: Arun Agrawal (UM-SNRE). Co-PI: Lauren Persha.
£1,890,500.
2011 - 2015.
International Initiative for Impact Evaluation (3ie), “Is Tanzania’s Participatory Forest Management
Program a Triple Win? Understanding Causal Pathways for Livelihoods, Governance and Forest
Conservation Impacts”. PI: Lauren Persha. Co-Is: Arun Agrawal (UM-SNRE), Charles Meshack (Tanzania
Forest Conservation Group). $402,711.
2011- 2013.
The Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation. “Explaining Protected Areas (PA) Outcomes in the AndesAmazon Region”. PI: Arun Agrawal (UM-SNRE). Co-PIs: Dan Brown (UM-SNRE), Lauren Persha. $399,663.
2011-2012.
The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. “Studying Poverty, Agricultural Risks, and Coping Strategies”.
Lead PI: Arun Agrawal (UM-SNRE). Co-PIs: Ashwini Chhatre (UIUC - Geography), James Scott (Yale,
Political Science), Gautam Yadama (Washington University in St. Louis, School of Social Work). Senior
Personnel: Lauren Persha. $146,547.
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Persha CV; 29 March 2015
2010-2011.
CGIAR Challenge Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security, “Governance,
institutions and incentives for climate change mitigation and livelihoods at the forest-farm interface”. PI:
Lauren Persha; Co-PI: Arun Agrawal (UM-SNRE). $117,000.
2010-2012.
SNRE/USDA McIntire-Stennis Research Program, “Passive Forest Management and Forest Quality in
Michigan Public Land and Nonindustrial Private Forests”. PI: Arun Agrawal (UM-SNRE). Co-PI: Lauren
Persha. $60,000.
2007.
National Science Foundation, Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement Grant (Geog & Spatial Sci)
$11,700.
2005 - 2008.
National Science Foundation, Graduate Research Fellowship (Indiana University), $90,000.
2004.
Department of Education, Foreign Language & Area Studies Fellowship in Swahili and African Studies
(Indiana University) $14,000.
PROFESSIONAL SERVICE
Peer Review and Editorial Boards
• Reviewer: Biological Conservation; Conservation and Society; Conservation Biology; Conservation Letters; Ecological
Economics; Ecology and Society; Environmental Management; International Forestry Review; Journal of Development
Studies; Journal of Environment and Development; Nature Climate Change; Oryx; Society and Natural Resources.
• Editorial Board Member, Handling Editor: Conservation Letters (June 2012 – present).
Service to University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
• Chair, Colloquium Committee, Department of Geography (Fall 2013)
• Member, Graduate Program Committee, Department of Geography (2014-15).
• Member, Graduate Awards Committee, Department of Geography (2012-13; 2014-15).
• Member, Faculty Search Committee, Department of Geography (Fall 2014).
• Member, Faculty Search Committee, Department of Geography (Spring 2013).
• Member, Program Review Committee, Curriculum for the Environment and Ecology (2012-2013).
Professional Society Membership
• Association of American Geographers;
• Association for Tropical Biology and Conservation;
• International Association for the Study of the Commons;
• Society for Conservation Biology (Africa section);
• Tanzania Natural Resource Forum.
MEDIA COVERAGE OF RESEARCH
• “$400K grant awarded to study conditions, governance of forests in Tanzania”
http://sustainability.umich.edu/news/400k-grant-awarded-forest-research-tanzania
• “Surprise! Biodiversity and Resource Use May Co-Exist in Tropical Forests”
http://www.nsf.gov/news/news_summ.jsp?cntn_id=119023
• “Can we get more social benefits from forests and have higher biodiversity?”
http://ns.umich.edu/htdocs/releases/story.php?id=8326
• “Involving communities in forest governance boosts biodiversity, local income”
http://news.mongabay.com/2011/0324-local_rulemaking.html
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Persha CV; 29 March 2015
RELATED SKILLS:
Languages: Swahili (speak fluently, advanced reading/writing); French (proficient).
GIS and Remote Sensing: ArcGIS; ENVI; Erdas Imagine; Fragstats.
Country experience (extensive field-based research or professional work): Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda.
Country experience (shorter-term fieldwork or work travel): China, Ecuador, India, Malaysia, Suriname, Zambia, Zimbabwe.
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