Prisca Mugabe

Prisca Mugabe has worked for three decades in university teaching, research, and community outreach services, primarily in communal rangeland systems. Driven by her country Zimbabwe’s very complex socio-economic landscape, her research has mainly been on rangelands utilization, management, monitoring and improvement, on land reform impacts on natural resources management, climate change adaptation and sustainable livelihood systems and on rangeland socio-ecological systems.Her outreach has extended to transfrontier conservation areas. Dr. Mugabe is the co-coordinator of Production and Conservation in Partnership Research Platform (www.rp-pcp.org), and has served as expert reviewer for UNEP Environment Outlook Series, Southern Africa Resilience Innovation lab and Zimbabwe National Commission for UNESCO.A passionate communicator, Dr. Mugabe has published to diverse scientific and practitioner audiences and co-authored several books including Climate change impacts, vulnerability and adaptation in Zimbabwe (IIED, 2012); Migration, Rural Livelihoods and Natural Resources Management (IDRC, 2012); Managing natural resources for development in Africa (University of Nairobi Press, 2010); Tropical legumes for sustainable farming systems in Southern Africa and Australia (ACIAR, 2004). Dr. Mugabe holds a D.Phil. in Rangeland Ecology and Management (Texas A&M University, USA), a MSc. in Grassland Science (University of Reading, UK) and a BSc. in Agriculture and Animal Science (University of Zimbabwe).

With the rise in socio-economic and environmental challenges facing society, science is increasingly required to better responds to societal needs particularly in developing countries. A good example of such a need is in the complex interface of protected areas in Southern Africa. There is a need to better assess and foresee the contribution of research in agricultural development and conservation. This research project will use innovative participatory approaches such as the ImpresS tool and the Commons’ framework to reflect on the impact pathway of the Production and Conservation in Partnership Research Platform (www.rp-pcp.org) on the development of agricultural and conservation science and practices in social-ecological systems of Transfrontier Conservation Areas (TFCAs) in Southern Africa. This forward looking study will be conducted at two levels namely the 13-years strong RP-PCP platform, and the project on ‘Promoting Sustainable Livelihoods in TFCA’ (ProSuLi). The study will be part of a broader evaluation of the impact of transdisciplinary research at the nexus between agricultural production (i.e small-scale farming in TFCAs) and conservation (i.e. protected areas) to promote the health and sustainability of such socio-ecological systems in Africa.