Sophie Jago

Sophie is a conservation science PhD student on the E3 Sharing Space for Nature project. She is researching the trade-offs between nature conservation and food security, predominantly in Ethiopia. Sophie’s PhD will use quasi-experimental approaches to provide evidence for the performance of existing protected areas for both nature conservation and human wellbeing. She will also use social science methodologies to assess the effectiveness of Payments for Agrobiodiversity Conservation Service programmes in aiding resilience of smallholder farmers. 

Unifying wild and agrobiodiversity conservation in twin biodiversity hotspots for equitable and sustainable implementation area-based conservation targets.
Globally, we are facing twin biodiversity crises. The first characterising the substantial global decline of biodiversity, and the second, a parallel decline in the inter- and intra-specific diversity of agricultural biodiversity (or agrobiodiversity) which underpins the resilience of our global food systems. Addressing these crises are coinciding global goals to (1) conserve 30% of the planet in protected areas and other area-based conservation measures (OECMs) under the Global Biodiversity Framework, and end hunger, achieve food security and promote sustainable agriculture under the Sustainable Development Goals. These goals are often seen as opposing one another as global food systems, necessary for achieving zero hunger, are a dominant driver of wild biodiversity loss and conversely area-based conservation takes up space which could otherwise be used for food production.

As countries develop frameworks for meeting these targets, it is vital that this is informed by research into the many trade-offs occurring, drivers of these trade-offs, and any emerging tools to more fairly distribute the costs and benefits of area-based conservation. Focusing this research on places where high biodiversity and agrobiodiversity overlap with high poverty and food insecurity, will aid understanding of how to find synergies between nature and people in the most extreme scenarios.  

Sophie's supervisors are Professor Bob Smith and Dr Jake Bicknell.