UH Economic Research Organization
lbremer [at] hawaii [dot] edu
I am an Environmental Management Assistant Specialist with the UH Economics Research Organization (UHERO) and the Water Resources Research Center (WRRC). As a geographer by training, I am drawn to inter-disciplinary, collaborative, and participatory research around land and water management futures. I am particularly interested in policies and strategies to support watershed management and planning for multiple cultural, socio-economic, hydrologic, and ecological benefits. My work focuses on water resources management and planning in Hawaiʻi and on water funds and compensation for ecosystem services programs in the Andes. I have an MS in Conservation Biology from Victoria University of Wellington (New Zealand) and Macquarie University (Australia) and a PhD in Geography from UC Santa Barbara and San Diego State University.
Selected projects:
- ʻIke Wai – securing Hawaiʻi’s water future – I co-lead the social science team of an NSF EPSCoR project focused on improving management of groundwater and groundwater-dependent social-ecological systems in Hawaiʻi.
- Agroforestry restoration in He’eia, O’ahu – I am working on a collaborative research-practitioner team with Tamara Ticktin, Kakoʻo ʻŌiwi, The Nature Conservancy, and others to establish pilot agroforestry restoration plots for multiple cultural, ecological, and economic benefits.
- ClimateWIse – I lead the social science component of a Belmont Forum project focused on the social and hydrologic outcomes of water funds in Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, and Perú in a context of climate change.