Sarah Milne

I study the political ecology of natural resource management and environmental interventions, particularly in the context of community-based conservation; resource rights initiatives; and market mechanisms for conservation like Payments for Environmental Services (PES) and Reducing Emissions from forest Degradation and Deforestation (REDD+). Most of my research is focused on Cambodia, where I have been active as a conservationist, ethnographer, and advocate since 2002.

I am fascinated with the politics and practice of biodiversity conservation, as observed through project ethnography. This is the focus of a monograph that I am currently completing, about a high-profile international conservation project in the Cardamom Mountains, Cambodia. This work builds upon my extensive experience as a practitioner focusing on conservation and development issues in Cambodia, where I have worked for UNDP, IUCN, WCS and CI.

New research from 2018 will look at ‘Rupture’, which is a way of exploring the social and political upheavals that result from major environmental changes, especially in relation to hydro-power dams in mainland Southeast Asia.

See Google Scholar profile. Twitter @MtMajura

Keywords: political ecology; critique of conservation; land and resource rights; state formation; corruption; project ethnography; scholar-activism