Dr. D. Layne Coppock

Biography

My students, colleagues, and I primarily investigate ways to promote sustainable livelihoods via risk management and poverty reduction among people inhabiting rangelands and smallholder farming systems around the world. Our main research locations have been in eastern Africa (Ethiopia, Kenya, and Tanzania) as well as throughout rural Utah. We look for cost-effective interventions often involving livelihood diversification, education, and improved management of natural resources. Examples of projects include: (1) Collective action among pastoral women in southern Ethiopia and northern Kenya; (2) drought coping strategies among Utah ranchers; (3) adoption of soil and water conservation practices among farmers in a Rift Valley watershed of central Kenya; (4) the role of education in promoting wealth creation and wildlife conservation among farmers in the Kigoma Region of western Tanzania; and (5) prospects for enhancing carbon sequestration on Utah rangelands. More recent projects have investigated: (1) Attitudes of Utah residents concerning climate change and renewable energy; (2) effects of climate-change on vegetable and fruit prices across the USA; (3) opportunities for climate-change adaptation in small-farm systems of Uganda and Nepal; and (4) studies of the effects of large development investments on the livelihoods and natural resource management practices of agro-pastoralists in northern Namibia.