Aida Cuní Sanchez
Postdoctoral research associate

Profile

Biography

My research interests, at the interphase between natural and social sciences, have focused on tropical forest ecology, carbon stocks, ethnobotany, forest use by local communities and forest conservation. I have been involved in several multidisciplinary collaborative research projects, in over ten countries in Africa. Apart from publishing in peer-reviewed journals, I am involved in disseminating results to wider audiences (from local communities to policy makers) and in science outreach, as I believe ‘science should be useful to people’. I am committed to capacity building in Africa, teaching in short courses and being an advisor for several African PhD students. My current research project focuses on African montane forests and assesses ecosystem services, threats and potential management strategies.

Career

• 2017-ongoing: visiting researcher, Ecosystem Science and Sustainability, Colorado State University.
• 2017-ongoing: Research Associate – Department of Environment and Geography, University of York, and Dept. Ecosystem Science & Sustainability, Colorado State University. Project: African montane forests
• 2017: Research Associate –Environmental Change Institute, University of Oxford, UK. Project: Central African vegetation carbon stocks. Fieldwork in Congo
• 2014-2016: Postdoctoral Researcher – CMEC, University of Copenhagen, Denmark. Project: ASEC – Avoiding the socio-ecological collapse of remnant evergreen forests in drylands. Fieldwork in northern Kenya
• 2013-2014: Postdoctoral Researcher–Department of Geography, University College London, UK. Project: Carbon stocks of rainforests in Gabon. Fieldwork in Gabon
• 2012: Conservation Scientist and Carbon Specialist– RSPB, UK. Fieldwork in Sierra Leone
• 2007-2011: PhD in Environmental Sciences–University of Southampton, UK. Fieldwork in several countries in Africa
• 2002-2006: Graduated in Biology, Specialization: Organisms and Ecosystems – Barcelona University, Spain

Publications

Selected publications

2020:

• Hubau W., et al. (2020) Asynchronous carbon sink saturation in African and Amazonian tropical forests. Nature 579, 80-87.
• Burt A., et al. (2020) Assessment of bias in pan-tropical biomass predictions. Front. For. Glob. Change 3:12.
• Ngute A.S.K., et al. (2020) Edible caterpillars in central Cameroon: host plants, value, harvesting, and availability. Forests, trees and livelihoods 29, 16–33
• Batumike R., et al. (2020) Bushmeat hunting around Lomami National Park, Democratic Republic of the Congo. Oryx https://doi.org/10.1017/S0030605319001017

2019:

• Cuni-Sanchez A. et al. (2019a) The importance of livelihood strategy and ethnicity in forest ecosystem services’ perceptions by local communities in north-western Cameroon. Ecosystem Services 40 (2019) 101000.
• Cuni-Sanchez A. et al. (2019b) Social perceptions of forest ecosystem services in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Human Ecology 47:839–853.
• Hubau W. et al. (2019) The persistence of carbon in the African forest understory. Nature Plants 5: 133-140.
• Los SO, et al. (2019) Sensitivity of a tropical montane cloud forest to climate change, present, past and future: Mt. Marsabit, N. Kenya. Quaternary Science Reviews 218 34e48.
• Cuni-Sanchez A. et al. (2019) Climate change and pastoralists: perceptions and adaptation in montane Kenya. Climate and Development 11, 513-524.

2018:

• Sullivan M.J.P., et al.(2018) Field methods for sampling tree height for tropical forest biomass estimation. Methods Ecol Evol. 9:1179-1189.
• Marchant R. et al. (2018) Drivers and trajectories of land cover change in East Africa: human and environmental interactions from 6000 years ago to present Earth Science Reviews 178: 322-378.
• Pfeifer M. et al. (2018) Tropical forest canopies and their relationships with climate and disturbance: results from a global dataset of consistent field-based measurements. Forest Ecosystems 5:7.
• Ifo S.A. et al. (2018) Seasonally flooded and terra firme in northern Congo: Insights on their structure, diversity and biomass. African Journal of Ecology 57: 92-103.
• Atsri H.K., et al. (2018) Changes in the West African forest-savanna mosaic, insights from central Togo. PLoS ONE 13(10): e0203999.

2017:

• Cuni-Sanchez A. et al. (2017) New insights on above ground biomass and forest attributes in tropical montane forests. Forest Ecology and Management 399,235–246.
• Imani G., et al. (2017) Height-diameter allometry and above ground biomass in tropical montane forests: Insights from the Albertine Rift in Africa. PLoS ONE 12(6):e0179653.
• Delbanco A.S., Burgess N.D., Cuni-Sanchez A. (2017) Medicinal plant trade in northern Kenya: importance, uses and origin. Economic Botany 71, 13-31.
• Jusu A., Cuni-Sanchez A. (2017) Priority indigenous fruit trees in the African rainforest zone: insights from Sierra Leone. Genetic Resources and Crop Evolution 64, 754-760.

2016:

• Cuni-Sanchez A., et al. (2016) Ethnic and locational differences in ecosystem service values: insights from the communities in forest islands in the desert. Ecosystem services 19, 42-50.
• Cuni-Sanchez A., et al. (2016) African savanna-forest boundary carbon dynamics: a 20-year study. PloSONE11(6):e0156934.
• Cuni-Sanchez A., Lindsell J.A. (2016) The role of remnant trees in carbon sequestration, vegetation structure and tree diversity of early succession regrowing fallows in eastern Sierra Leone. African Journal of Ecology 55, 188-197.
• Goussanou C. A., et al. (2016) Specific and generic stem biomass and volume models of tree species in a West African tropical semi-deciduous forest. Silva Fennica 50(2) 1474.
• Gebauer J., et al. (2016) Africa’s wooden elephant: the baobab tree in Sudan and Kenya: a review. Genetic Resources and Crop Evolution 63: 377-399.

Research

Projects

African montane forests are biodiversity rich and unique ecosystems. They provide numerous benefits to human beings at both local and regional scales: water, timber, firewood and building materials, medicinal plants, wild fruits and honey, among others. They also play an important role in hazard prevention, climate modulation, carbon sequestration and lowland water and food security. Unfortunately, they are amongst the most threatened ecosystems on Earth due to the combined effects of climate change, population growth and land use change. They remain overexploited (logging, poaching, mining, conversion to agriculture) and understudied. As they are key for the livelihoods of millions of people, finding the balance between forest conservation and sustainable use is particularly challenging, and lack of accurate data and insight into these ecosystems hampers management interventions.

This collaborative socio-ecological research project will create the first synthetic overview of four key aspects of African montane forests: ecosystem services provided, current and future threats, socio-ecological functioning and potential management interventions. It will compile information from several sources (including a field campaign in Mt Kahuzi-Bienga in DRC and Mt Oku in Cameroon) and it will use state-of-the art analysing methods (e.g. socio-ecological modelling using Bayesian statistics). Apart from scientific publications, which will advance our understanding of the socio-ecological functioning of these fragile ecosystems, we will produce and disseminate management recommendations and policy briefs. Lessons learned will be shared with a wide range of stakeholders, as the ultimate goal is to help ensure the long term existence of these forests and the services they provide without excluding their local communities.

Building on from our collaborative research work in northern Kenya, which was highly appreciated by both local communities and managers (see https://vimeo.com/221740544/fc6e4a7e02 ), we will replicate and upscale, thanks to our collaborations with Mountain Sentinels (https://mountainsentinels.org/ ), Mountain Research Initiative and AfroMont, among other networks. We cannot reverse ongoing environmental changes, but we can better adapt to them.