Tobias Nyumba

I am a Postdoctoral Research Fellow for the Development Corridor Partnership (DCP) project based at the African Conservation Centre (ACC), Nairobi, and affiliated with the University of Nairobi’s Institute for Climate Change and Adaptation (ICCA). I have over ten years of experience in environment and development, biodiversity conservation, research and policy in Kenya. Previously I have worked as a research assistant for a Darwin Initiative funded project in Kenya and the UK on human-elephant conflict mitigation in Kenya. Subsequently, I managed Space for Giants (K) Trust’s applied research projects promoting biodiversity conservation, human development and livelihoods in Northern Kenya. Recently, I worked with the African Wildlife Foundation’s science and applied ecological research, before beginning my PhD research at the University of Cambridge, UK.  My PhD research explored the impacts of conservation interventions on human well-being and poverty alleviation in Kenya. Towards the end of the Ecosystem Services for Poverty Alleviation (ESPA) programme 2018, I synthesised various research results, tools and publications to develop a set of materials to support learning and training on environment, development and poverty alleviation in Africa, that was delivered in Kenya, Malawi and Madagascar. I am keen to promote research with practical relevance to biodiversity conservation and development policy within a multidisciplinary framework. Within the DCP project, I will be looking at the impacts of development corridors on biodiversity in Kenya as part of the broader project in East Africa. This is indeed an exciting role as it builds on my long-term efforts to provide evidence to support and influence the development-conservation discourse in Africa.