The Environment and Sustainability Research Grants are the latest addition to the Society’s Grants Programme. Four grants of £9,000 were available in 2015 for high-impact research within the field of environmental sustainability.
The grants were awarded for the first time this year and supported a range of research topics, from global carbon sequestration to farming subsidies. One of 2015’s grant recipients was Dr Ivan Scales (University of Cambridge), who lead a research expedition to south-western Madagascar to investigate the impact of human activity on the mangrove ecosystem. The expedition worked closely with two Malagasy partner institutions and included research assistants and field apprentices from the UK and Madagascar.
Mangrove forests are particularly important as they link terrestrial and marine environments and are increasingly under threat from clearance and over-exploitation. The team’s work will contribute to our understanding of how mangrove forests are used by coastal communities, and how their use can be more sustainably managed. You can learn more about Ivan’s research at ivanscales.com and Twitter: @ivanscales