MÉRIADEC SILLANPӒӒ

PhD Student

Email: meriadec.sillanpaeae@u.nus.edu

Research Title: Sustainable Forest Management Regimes in Mangrove Environments
Research Group: Tropical Environmental Change (TEC)
Thesis Advisor: Assoc Prof Massimo Lupascu
Co-advisor: Assoc Prof Dan Friess

My PhD concentrates on the development and evaluation of Sustainable Forest Management (SFM) regimes in mangroves. The objectives are to

1) model and study sustainable management schemes for an ecologically, economically and socially balanced mangrove forest;

2) observe what forestry practices can be performed without significantly affecting the ecosystem services provided by mangroves; and

3) understand how certification can play a role in implementing sustainable mangrove forest utilization.

Study sites include the Bintuni Bay mangrove in West Papua, Indonesia and potentially other coastal forests in South East Asia. My broader interests and activities include the use of remote sensing and drone imagery to monitor forest environments, botany, management of coastal forests and New Guinea forest ecosystems.