Update from the Field

After over a month since my last post, we are now back in the field taking more data. The farmers are troubled by severe drought. Most crops are expected to fail, and farming households are depending on federally subsidized wage employment for livelihoods. Greater pressure on forests from households also seems to be resulting from the failing agriculture. Households will collect more fuelwood to sell in local markets to make-up for the lost income from crops.

Over the next week, we'll hold a workshop on modeling human and natural systems in the near-by Horsely Hills field station. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horsley_Hills

FES team members from all around India will attend, as well as a few faculty from Wash-U. Natural and social scientists will work together to understand the intersections of the human and natural systems at work in the area. Understanding these phenomena will help FES intervene in the habitations and ecosystems with even greater success. It is exciting to start this work, and a video of our recent field work is below.