Nyeema Harris Wins 2023 IDEAL Award

Nyeema C. Harris, Knobloch Family Associate Professor of Wildlife and Land Conservation at YSE, was honored by the American Institute of Biological Sciences (AIBS) with the 2023 Inspiring Inclusivity, Diversity, Equity, Acceptance and Learning (IDEAL) Award. The award recognizes commendable leadership in advancing inclusion, diversity, equity, acceptance, accessibility, and learning in the biological sciences community.

“Dr. Harris’ work is tremendously important. We applaud her steadfast dedication both to science and the diverse community of practitioners who are its foundation,” Scott Glisson, CEO of AIBS, said.

Harris’ research explores carnivore behavior and movement and ecology and conservation in urban systems and national parks at a global scale, with ongoing projects throughout the Americas and Africa, specifically. She examines spatial and temporal variations in species interactions, how networks are structured, the ecological consequences of species loss and land-use change, and mechanisms that promote coexistence between carnivores and humans. She directs the Applied Wildlife Ecology (AWE) Lab at YSE, which aims to promote human–wildlife coexistence around the world in urban, agricultural, and protected landscapes while demonstrating a commitment to public engagement and inclusivity. She co-founded the Black Ecologist Section of the Ecological Society of America and recently completed a National Science Foundation-funded project centered on environmental literacy in urban youth in Detroit.

"My approach has always been to operate from a place of integration, where my DEIJ efforts are fundamental in my scholarship, pedagogy, and engagement,” Harris said.

Harris received the award at the AIBS Council of Member Societies and Organizations meeting November 30, 2023. It was presented to her by previous award winner Steward T. A. Pickett, a plant ecologist and senior scientist at the Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies.

Nyeema Harris

Nyeema Harris

Knobloch Family Associate Professor of Wildlife and Land Conservation

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Study Explores Climate Friendly Alternatives to Reducing Wildfire Risks

To prevent destructive wildfires, the U.S. Forest Service thins forests and places the cuttings, called residue, into piles for burning. However, a recent study led by Jake Barker ’24 MF and a team of researchers projected that a significant amount of carbon dioxide is released during these events, which works against climate-change mitigation goals. The burns are also financially costly.

The residue burns by the Forest Service are being used to prevent catastrophic fires that have been fueled by logging, drought, climate-change, and previous government-mandated fire suppression that have led to the accumulation of debris and dense stands of small trees, which provide fuel for enormous blazes.

The study, published in Frontiers for Global Change, simulated residue burning across western U.S. forests, and estimated that the burns contributed over 1.7 million metric tons of carbon emissions annually. The researchers found that that costs for labor and equipment were also notably higher than had been reported.

The authors suggest that alternatives to burning residues, such as using them for biofuels or burying them to sequester carbon, could help reduce fire risk and carbon emissions. Steep forest terrain makes removing residues for other uses difficult and costly. They recommend the Forest Service seek subsidies to aid in funding infrastructure for climate-friendly alternatives.

“Forests play a big part in natural climate solutions,” Barker said. “We’re demonstrating the opportunity for novel and creative pathways to transform residues into a natural climate solution.”

 

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forest worker observing a controlled burn in a forest

Forest worker observing a controlled burn. Photo: iStock/AscentXmedia

YSE Students Win Questrom School of Business Sustainability Competition

A five-member team of students from the Yale School of the Environment and Yale School of Management won first place at the Boston Questrom School of Business Sustainability Case Competition for developing ideas to boost a solar company’s B Corp score.

“We worked hard over the course of two months to come up with solutions to real problems for real companies,” said team member Shivansh Chaturvedi ’26 MF/MBA.

The group earned the $50,000 prize during the third annual competition, besting more than 90 other teams in the country’s largest sustainability-focused case competition.

In the finals, the team focused on how New England-based ReVision Energy could boost its B Corp score, which measures firms’ social and environmental impact. The team calculated that ReVision could attract more female electricians by offering in-house childcare, which would save money by reducing employee turnover. The team also proposed carbon removal investments to neutralize ReVision’s environmental impact.

Chaturvedi said YSE’s interdisciplinary education helped the team clinch the win.

“We felt very confident going into that competition, knowing that we had a holistic understanding of the problem from various lenses,” he said.

Team members included Gabriel Gadsden ’26 PhD, Henry Ritter ’25 MEM/MBA, and Yale School of Management students Arjun Kumar ’25 MBA and Leigh Ramsey ’25 MBA.

Two local charities benefited, too. The competition required that the winners donate 10% of the prize to charity. The Yale team picked Save the Sound and Common Ground.

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Students hold an oversized check for the $50,000 prize

Study Finds Destruction of Ivory Does Not Reduce Elephant Poaching Rates

The world’s elephant population has declined by half since 1979, with just about 460,000 elephants remaining — down from ten million a century ago. In an effort to curtail the death of elephants caused by ivory poaching, about 300 tons of ivory has been destroyed since 1989. Kenya organized the first public burn of stockpiled ivory in 1989, to raise awareness and deter the trade of ivory and elephant poaching, but does destroying ivory helped or hurt efforts to protect elephants?

A study led by Emma Gjerdseth, a postdoctoral researcher at the Yale School of the Environment, examined the causal effects of ivory destruction on elephant poaching rates in Africa and Asian countries. The paper, published in the journal World Development, is the first to examine the impact of ivory destruction. It found that in African countries, ivory destruction increases poaching rates with large spillover effects across the continent. In Asia, there is no evidence that elephant poaching rates respond to ivory destruction.

“The destruction of ivory is not saving elephants in the wild,” Gjerdseth said. “While poaching incentives in the country with a destruction event are unchanged because the price effect is offset by enforcement and publicity, it leads to more elephant deaths across the continent. This can create perverse incentives for countries acting on their own to participate symbolically while other countries on the continent incur negative externalities from displaced poaching activity.”

The study found that a destruction event in Africa increases poaching rates  by 18% across sites.

 “This research suggests that proper management of confiscated illicit materials should not involve destruction,” Gjerdseth said. “It also highlights the importance of accounting for economic incentives in wildlife conservation strategies and policies.”

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a bin full of ivory tusks