The Forest, The Trees, and How We See Them: Perspectives on a tree planting boom in Uganda

“Help the planet – plant a tree” campaigns are a common environmental initiative. Particularly in the tropics, tree-planting promises to tackle dual challenges of deforestation and climate change. The validity and equity of these types of initiatives depends on who plants the trees, what they replace, and how they impact the communities around them, but local views are often missing from slogans and headlines. Middlebury students and faculty have been working on a collaborative project to understand the shifting trajectory of a rural landscape in Western Uganda and hear the perspectives of people living in the thick of a tree planting boom. Join faculty Jess L’Roe and student team members Derrick Burt ’20, Jacob Freedman ’21, and Kate Talano ’22 to explore the more complicated story of tree-planting and rural development.

Jessica L’Roe is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Geography. She works to understand the implications of shifting land rights and livelihoods in rapidly changing rural regions in the tropics. Her research is sited in biodiversity hotspots in Peru, Brazil, Uganda, and the DRC and is geared toward informing environmental policy. She teaches courses on research methods and geographic perspectives on environmental change.

Hosted by Caitlin Myers, John G. McCullough Professor of Economics.

See the Faculty at Home website for additional information, including how to register for this free event: https://www.middlebury.edu/office/provost/faculty-home