Abu SMG Kibria

Abu Kibria was a Post-doctoral Research Associate in the School of Natural Resources and the Environment at the University of Arizona. He now acts as a Research Fellow at North Carolina University. He completed a PhD from The Australian National University with specialization in Ecological Economics. His transdisciplinary research integrates the studies of Coupled Human-Natural Systems to address research, policy and management issues. His primary research engagement is the economics of forest ecosystem services and their implications for human wellbeing in the face of natural threats (e.g. flood, cyclone, wildfire, invasive species). He has published extensively on determining economic incentives to prevent urban forests from invasive species, the value of the forest ecosystem services, participatory forestry, and economic analysis of land uses in forest areas. As a Postdoctoral Research Associate at The University of Arizona, he has broadened his portfolio to include a focus on how ecosystem services can help to prevent wildfires in the U.S. He is involved in economic and social valuation of natural capital, assessing the effects of forest management on socio-economic sustainability at local and regional scales, and modeling ecosystem dynamics for resilience and adaptation of Coupled-Human Natural Systems. He uses a range of methods and models to estimate the value of ecosystem services as well as analyze the interactions between human wellbeing and ecosystem services in the dynamics of coupled human-environment systems.