Melissa Marschke

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About

Melissa Marschke CCRN ResearcherI am an Associate Professor at the School of International Development and Global Studies at the University of Ottawa. My training is in human-environment relations, with a particular emphasis on livelihoods, common pool resources and environmental governance. More recently, I’ve begun exploring transition theory (agrarian transition; resilience, adaptability and transformation). I am the author of “Life, Fish and Mangroves: Resource governance in coastal Cambodia” (U Ottawa Press, 2012), and have published in various journals including Ecology & Society, Global Environmental Change, International Journal of the Commons and Marine Policy.

Place

Mangrove-estuary villages in south-western Cambodia; coastal villages in Vietnam; Southeast Asia.

Research

My research focuses on livelihoods, sustainability and environmental change in coastal villages throughout Southeast Asia. Annual visits to coastal Cambodia, in particular to the villagers that I have been speaking with since 1998, continue to inform my empirical work and ground my theoretical thinking. I am currently investigating how local resource management institutions perceive various forms of resource management (payment for ecosystem services, co-management). I am also investigating if and how small producers (fishers and fish farmers) transition in and out of the fisheries sector, paying specific attention to such transitions in Cambodia and Vietnam.

Key Publications

  • Marschke, M. and Wilkings, A. “Is certification a viable option for small producer fish farmers in the global South? Insights from Vietnam”. Marine Policy, 2014, 50(A), 197-206.
  • Marschke, M., Ouk L., and Kim, N. “Can local institutions help sustain livelihoods in an era of fish declines and persistent environmental change?”, Sustainability, 2014, 6, 2490-2505.
  • Marschke, M., Life, Fish and Mangroves: Resource governance in coastal Cambodia, Ottawa, University of Ottawa Press, 2012, 192
  • Marschke, M. and Berkes, F., “Exploring Strategies that Build Livelihood Resilience: A case from Cambodia”, Ecology and Society, 2006, 11(1): 42.