Author: Amit John Kurien

Amit John Kurien is a PhD scholar at the Academy of Conservation Science and Sustainability Studies in the Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment (ATREE) in India. His PhD focuses on forest-agrarian transformations and specifically the intensification in shifting cultivation in Garo Hills, Northeast India, examining its diverse causes and its specific consequences for changes in livelihood strategies and food security, livelihood sustainability, and equity. He has a Bachelor’s degree in Botany and Master’s in Wildlife Science but turned his attention to research interdisciplinary issues at the interface of environment and development for his PhD where he received training in both the social and the natural sciences. He has previously worked as a researcher with the Centre for Ecological Sciences at the Indian Institute of Science, as a wildlife biologist with the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) Cambodia programme and also as editorial staff with the interdisciplinary journal Conservation and Society. His relevant publications include: 1) 'Farms or Forests? Understanding and mapping shifting cultivation using the case study of West Garo Hills, India.' in Land in 2019 (https://doi.org/10.3390/land8090133) and 2) 'Interdisciplinary analysis of the environment: Insights from tropical forest research.' Environmental Conservation in 2011 (https://doi.org/10.1017/S037689291100018X). He can be reached at amitkurien@gmail.com.