Thanks to a recently received grant, a team of Ohio University researchers will research climate change oceans away from Athens.
A $571,859 grant from the National Science Foundation will fund the team's trip to Tanzania this summer, where they will work in conjunction with several other institutions to study climate change in East Africa.
They will be using and developing a new tool for analysis called the Participatory Global Information System. This new instrument will go beyond just analyzing the landscapes, using statistical information and cultural knowledge in the models it produces.
The tool will allow scientists to break down into layers the different contributing factors of climate change, which include soil, precipitation and agricultural practices.
(PGIS) allows us to look at people's perception of the land and landscape and how their environment is being changed
said Thomas Smucker, a visiting assistant professor of geography and director of OU's International Development Studies Program. He added that it allows them to see the effect beyond the hard science by analyzing all the facets that go into an environment.
Landscape means different things to different people; it could be elevations it could be rainfall it could be terrain
but it doesn't tell you about politics
or wars or histories of the people
said Dan Weiner, executive director of OU's Center for International Studies.
Team members hope the project will allow them to help reverse negative climate change in the region surrounding Mount Kilimanjaro.
Ultimately
what we're trying to gauge is how environments are going to change with climate change
Smucker said. There's a tendency to hold society constant.
Smucker also said he hopes the data they collect will help motivate the people of these places to be proactive about protecting their environment and to better understand the changes upon them.
You have to look at what people are already doing because they're already adapting to climate change
Weiner said. You need to see what people are doing and what they aren't. This research will see what kind of stress they're under and what they're doing successfully.
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