Rico Kongsager is Geografer and PhD candidate (2012-15) in the Climate Strategies and Resilient Development Programme at UNEP Risø Centre. He holds a MSc in Geography and Geoinformatics from University of Copenhagen.

Rico’s master thesis, entitled ‘The breakeven price of REDD-credits: a case study of Kade, Ghana’, used qualitative and quantitative methods for estimating carbon stocks in forest and different land use systems and calculating the break-even price of REDD-credits for various land use options. The project was closely associated with ongoing research activities on REDD (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation) at the Department of Geography and Geology, University of Copenhagen, from where Rico graduated in 2011. With his combined focus on physical and human geography, Rico has considerable experience with working on land-use change and assessment of landscape scale vegetation dynamics. He has a specific interest in the role of forests as mitigation of climate change and in the conservation of forests. In his bachelor’s project he studied the conversion of forests to oil palm plantations in Borneo and its effects on the global carbon circle. Furthermore, he has followed numerous courses concerning climate change, natural resource management and sustainability, including global environmental governance, environmental impact assessment, climate changes – causes, effects, limitations and adaptation and remote sensing of the bio-geosphere. After graduation he worked as research assistant, with land-use change in regard to the global oil palm expansion, in the Global Land Project.

The title of Rico´s PhD project is “Analytical approaches to integrating agriculture and forestry in low carbon and resilient development strategies”. The main research question is to locate and evaluate linkages between mitigation and adaptation actions. The focus area is the forest and agricultural sector in developing countries. Fieldwork will be conducted in Belize in 2014 to: 1) investigate land-use changes among small scale farmers and the implication on deforestation in Belize, 2) quantify the opportunity costs of agriculture in Belize, and 3) examine adaptation strategies and climate change vulnerability for farmers in Belize.