Karina Benessaiah
Current Position
Postdoctoral fellow in Bennett Sustainability Science Lab, McGill University
Degrees Received
Doctorate of Philosophy (2018)
School of Geographical Sciences and Urban Planning, Arizona State University
Dissertation:“Social-Ecologies of Crisis: Assessing the Back-to-Land Movement in Greece”
Research interests
My research focuses on understanding how people adapt to rapid, multifaceted social-ecological changes – often called crises – and assessing societal and environmental transformations. Environmental changes, economic recessions, globalized trade are all drivers of change that shape livelihoods and environments around the world, often in unexpected ways. Understanding the processes involved in those social-ecological transformations highlights emergent vulnerabilities and potential opportunities towards sustainable and equitable pathways. How are people harnessing opportunity in order to bring about desirable social-ecological transformations?
I use approaches and methods from global land change, political ecology, ecosystem services, resilience, and sustainability science to study these dynamics focusing more particularly in food system changes (changes in production; changes in food governance; food system land transformations). I am also interested in the interplay between science and arts and other ways to disseminate and communicate research.
On-going projects
Publications
M.Milkoreit, J. Hodbod, J. Baggio, K. Benessaiah, R.Calderon Contreras, J. F. Donges,JD Mathias, J. C. Rocha, M. Schoon, and S.E. Werners. Defining Tipping Points for Social-Ecological Systems Scholarship – An Interdisciplinary Literature Review. 2018. Environmental Research Letters 3 (13): 1-12. http://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/aaaa75/pdf.
Force A., D. Manuel-Navarrete and K. Benessaiah. 2017. Tourism and transitions toward sustainability: developing tourists’ pro-sustainability agency. Sustainability Science: 1-15. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11625-017-0448-y
Steven E Sesnie, Beth Tellman, David Wrathall, Kendra McSweeney, Erik Nielsen, Karina Benessaiah, Ophelia Wang, Luis Rey. "A spatio-temporal analysis of forest loss related to cocaine trafficking in Central America." Environmental Research Letters, 2017; 12 (5): 054015 DOI: 10.1088/1748-9326/aa6fff
Chan KMA, P. Balvanera, K. Benessaiah, M. Chapman, S. Diaz, E. Gómez-Baggethun, RK. Gould, N. Hannahs, K. Jax, SC. Klain, G. Luck, B. Martín- López, B. Muraca, B. Norton, K. Ott, U. Pascual, T. Satterfield, M. Tadaki, J. Taggart, NJ. Turner. 2016. “Why Protect Nature? Rethinking Values and the Environment”. PNAS Vol. 113 (6): 1462-1465.
Turner VK., K. Benessaiah, SD Warren, D Iwaniec. 2015. Essential tensions in interdisciplinary scholarship: navigating challenges in affect, epistemologies, and structure in environment-society research centers. Higher Education 1-17.
Benessaiah K. and R. Sengupta. 2014. Shrimp aquaculture, livelihoods and coastal lagoons in the Estero Real, Nicaragua: the need to integrate ecosystem-based approaches to social-ecological research. Environmental Management 54 (2): 162-179.
Benessaiah, K., & Sayles, J. (2014). Drug Trafficking's Effects on Coastal Ecosystems. Science, 343, 1431-1431.
Raymond, C., G. Singh, K. Benessaiah, N. Turner, H. Nelson, K. Chan. 2013. Engaging multiple disciplines in ecosystem services research and assessment: a reply to Orenstein. Bioscience 63 (12): 913-914.
Raymond, C., G.G. Singh, K. Benessaiah, J. R. Bernhardt, J. Levine, H. Nelson, N.J. Turner, B. Norton, J. Tam and K. MA. Chan. 2013. "Ecosystem Services and Beyond". Bioscience 63 (7): 536-546.
Benessaiah, K. 2012. "Carbon and livelihoods in Post-Kyoto: Assessing voluntary carbon markets". Ecological Economics 77 :1-6.
Benessaiah, K. 2012. Disaster culture: knowledge and uncertainty in the wake of human and environment catastrophe. Book review, Human Ecology 40 (3): 483.
Eakin, H.; K. Benessaiah; J. Barrera; G. Cruz-Bello, and H. Morales.2011. “Livelihoods and Landscapes at the Threshold of Change: Disaster and Resilience in a Chiapas Coffee Community”. Regional Environmental Change(): 1-14.
Raudsepp-Hearne, C; Peterson, G. D. ; Tengo, M; Bennett, E.M.; Holland, T.; Benessaiah, K.; Macdonald, G.K.; Pfeifer, L. 2010 “Untangling the environmentalist’s paradox: why is human well-being increasing as ecosystem services degrade?”. Bioscience, Vol.60, issue 8, Sept. 2010, 576-589.
Benessaiah, K. 2010. Marine Aquaculture. Encyclopedia of Geography. Wharf, B (ed). Sage. Spring 2010.
Oestreicher, J. S., K. Benessaiah, M. C. Ruiz-Jaen, S. Sloan, K. Turner, J. Pelletier, B. Guay, K. E. Clark, D. G. Roche and M. Meiners (2009). "Avoiding deforestation in Panamanian protected areas: An analysis of protection effectiveness and implications for reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation." Global Environmental Change 19(2): 279-291.
Selected Awards
2018-2020 Banting Post-Doctoral Fellowship, McGill University
2017-2019 Idea(l)s in Action Erasmus + grant in partnership with Southern European NGOs: Via Brachy (France), Europaiko Chorio (Greece), Forme (Italy), New Loops (Portugal), and Cinergies (Greece)
2016-2018 Sesync working group 'Landscape transformations in Central America'
2015-2016 Open Society Foundations (OSF), Research collaborator for Landscapes in transformations in Central America (LITCA) project, (PIs- Kendra McSweeney, Erik Nielsen, Zoe Pearson and David Wrathall), managed by Ohio State University and the Mershon Center for International Security
2015 GPSA Jumpstart grant, Transmedia exploration of sustainability pathways
2010-2014 Trudeau Fellowship, Trudeau Foundation, Montreal, QC, Canada
2012 Graduate scholar, National Socio-Environmental Synthesis Center (SESYNC)
2009-2013 Doctoral Scholarship, Social Sciences & Humanities Research Council, Ottawa, Canada
2007 Congress of the Humanities 2007 Graduate Competition Award, International Development Agency and Canadian Federation for the Humanities & Social Sciences, Canada
2005-2007 Warren GIS Fellowship, McGill University, Montreal, QC
2006-2007 Levinson Fellowship, Neotropical Environment Option, McGill University, Montreal, QC
Contact information
Email: [email protected] or [email protected]
Twitter: @karina_bene
Postdoctoral fellow in Bennett Sustainability Science Lab, McGill University
Degrees Received
Doctorate of Philosophy (2018)
School of Geographical Sciences and Urban Planning, Arizona State University
Dissertation:“Social-Ecologies of Crisis: Assessing the Back-to-Land Movement in Greece”
- Master of Science (2008)
- Geography, McGill University
- Thesis: “Mangroves, shrimp aquaculture and coastal livelihoods in the Estero Real, Gulf of Fonseca, Nicaragua”
Research interests
My research focuses on understanding how people adapt to rapid, multifaceted social-ecological changes – often called crises – and assessing societal and environmental transformations. Environmental changes, economic recessions, globalized trade are all drivers of change that shape livelihoods and environments around the world, often in unexpected ways. Understanding the processes involved in those social-ecological transformations highlights emergent vulnerabilities and potential opportunities towards sustainable and equitable pathways. How are people harnessing opportunity in order to bring about desirable social-ecological transformations?
I use approaches and methods from global land change, political ecology, ecosystem services, resilience, and sustainability science to study these dynamics focusing more particularly in food system changes (changes in production; changes in food governance; food system land transformations). I am also interested in the interplay between science and arts and other ways to disseminate and communicate research.
- Adaptations and transformations, esp. in food systems
- Social-ecological changes in a teleconnected world
- Socializing ecosystem services: linkages between ecosystem services and human wellbeing, governance and inequality
- Arts/Science communication and participatory action research
On-going projects
- Sustainability transformations and bright spots in Montreal and Athens, focusing on food governance
- Inequality and ecosystem services
- Illicit economies and social-ecological change
- Transmedia web-based documentary "Heterotopies", created by Cinergies.coop
Publications
M.Milkoreit, J. Hodbod, J. Baggio, K. Benessaiah, R.Calderon Contreras, J. F. Donges,JD Mathias, J. C. Rocha, M. Schoon, and S.E. Werners. Defining Tipping Points for Social-Ecological Systems Scholarship – An Interdisciplinary Literature Review. 2018. Environmental Research Letters 3 (13): 1-12. http://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/aaaa75/pdf.
Force A., D. Manuel-Navarrete and K. Benessaiah. 2017. Tourism and transitions toward sustainability: developing tourists’ pro-sustainability agency. Sustainability Science: 1-15. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11625-017-0448-y
Steven E Sesnie, Beth Tellman, David Wrathall, Kendra McSweeney, Erik Nielsen, Karina Benessaiah, Ophelia Wang, Luis Rey. "A spatio-temporal analysis of forest loss related to cocaine trafficking in Central America." Environmental Research Letters, 2017; 12 (5): 054015 DOI: 10.1088/1748-9326/aa6fff
Chan KMA, P. Balvanera, K. Benessaiah, M. Chapman, S. Diaz, E. Gómez-Baggethun, RK. Gould, N. Hannahs, K. Jax, SC. Klain, G. Luck, B. Martín- López, B. Muraca, B. Norton, K. Ott, U. Pascual, T. Satterfield, M. Tadaki, J. Taggart, NJ. Turner. 2016. “Why Protect Nature? Rethinking Values and the Environment”. PNAS Vol. 113 (6): 1462-1465.
Turner VK., K. Benessaiah, SD Warren, D Iwaniec. 2015. Essential tensions in interdisciplinary scholarship: navigating challenges in affect, epistemologies, and structure in environment-society research centers. Higher Education 1-17.
Benessaiah K. and R. Sengupta. 2014. Shrimp aquaculture, livelihoods and coastal lagoons in the Estero Real, Nicaragua: the need to integrate ecosystem-based approaches to social-ecological research. Environmental Management 54 (2): 162-179.
Benessaiah, K., & Sayles, J. (2014). Drug Trafficking's Effects on Coastal Ecosystems. Science, 343, 1431-1431.
Raymond, C., G. Singh, K. Benessaiah, N. Turner, H. Nelson, K. Chan. 2013. Engaging multiple disciplines in ecosystem services research and assessment: a reply to Orenstein. Bioscience 63 (12): 913-914.
Raymond, C., G.G. Singh, K. Benessaiah, J. R. Bernhardt, J. Levine, H. Nelson, N.J. Turner, B. Norton, J. Tam and K. MA. Chan. 2013. "Ecosystem Services and Beyond". Bioscience 63 (7): 536-546.
Benessaiah, K. 2012. "Carbon and livelihoods in Post-Kyoto: Assessing voluntary carbon markets". Ecological Economics 77 :1-6.
Benessaiah, K. 2012. Disaster culture: knowledge and uncertainty in the wake of human and environment catastrophe. Book review, Human Ecology 40 (3): 483.
Eakin, H.; K. Benessaiah; J. Barrera; G. Cruz-Bello, and H. Morales.2011. “Livelihoods and Landscapes at the Threshold of Change: Disaster and Resilience in a Chiapas Coffee Community”. Regional Environmental Change(): 1-14.
Raudsepp-Hearne, C; Peterson, G. D. ; Tengo, M; Bennett, E.M.; Holland, T.; Benessaiah, K.; Macdonald, G.K.; Pfeifer, L. 2010 “Untangling the environmentalist’s paradox: why is human well-being increasing as ecosystem services degrade?”. Bioscience, Vol.60, issue 8, Sept. 2010, 576-589.
Benessaiah, K. 2010. Marine Aquaculture. Encyclopedia of Geography. Wharf, B (ed). Sage. Spring 2010.
Oestreicher, J. S., K. Benessaiah, M. C. Ruiz-Jaen, S. Sloan, K. Turner, J. Pelletier, B. Guay, K. E. Clark, D. G. Roche and M. Meiners (2009). "Avoiding deforestation in Panamanian protected areas: An analysis of protection effectiveness and implications for reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation." Global Environmental Change 19(2): 279-291.
Selected Awards
2018-2020 Banting Post-Doctoral Fellowship, McGill University
2017-2019 Idea(l)s in Action Erasmus + grant in partnership with Southern European NGOs: Via Brachy (France), Europaiko Chorio (Greece), Forme (Italy), New Loops (Portugal), and Cinergies (Greece)
2016-2018 Sesync working group 'Landscape transformations in Central America'
2015-2016 Open Society Foundations (OSF), Research collaborator for Landscapes in transformations in Central America (LITCA) project, (PIs- Kendra McSweeney, Erik Nielsen, Zoe Pearson and David Wrathall), managed by Ohio State University and the Mershon Center for International Security
2015 GPSA Jumpstart grant, Transmedia exploration of sustainability pathways
2010-2014 Trudeau Fellowship, Trudeau Foundation, Montreal, QC, Canada
2012 Graduate scholar, National Socio-Environmental Synthesis Center (SESYNC)
2009-2013 Doctoral Scholarship, Social Sciences & Humanities Research Council, Ottawa, Canada
2007 Congress of the Humanities 2007 Graduate Competition Award, International Development Agency and Canadian Federation for the Humanities & Social Sciences, Canada
2005-2007 Warren GIS Fellowship, McGill University, Montreal, QC
2006-2007 Levinson Fellowship, Neotropical Environment Option, McGill University, Montreal, QC
Contact information
Email: [email protected] or [email protected]
Twitter: @karina_bene