Brian E Robinson

Associate Professor

McGill University

REaL Lab

Robinson Ecosystems & Livelihoods Lab

I am an associate professor in the Department of Geography at McGill University, and a member of the Bieler School on the Environment. My group and I look at how people meet their needs through use of ecosystems and natural resources, the role this plays in developing regions, and the institutions we create to mediate these relationships. Our research methods draw from environmental and development economics, ecology, development geography, and geographic information sciences – collectively taking a land system science approach to answer policy-relevant questions.

For practicing inclusive science in the lab, see here.

For more details on Brian Robinson, see his CV here.

Interests

land systems
ecosystem services
policy evaluation
international development
spatial analysis

Education

PhD in Environment & Resources, 2009
University of Wisconsin-Madison
MEng in Water Resources, 2005
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
MCP in Environmental Policy & Planning, 2005
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
BSc in Earth & Atmospheric Sciences, 1999
Georgia Tech

Projects

ResNet: Sustainable & Resilient Ecosystems for Canada

ResNet’s mission is to support Canada’s capacity to monitor, model, and manage its working landscapes for the long-term shared health, prosperity and resilience for all Canadians through community-engaged research. My group is integrating communities into models to better account for how ecosystem service flows are captured by human beneficiaries on the landscape.

ResNet: Sustainable & Resilient Ecosystems for Canada

Sustainable Landscapes (MSSI)

Landscapes connect communities to the natural capital needed for the sustainable provision of ecosystem services like food, energy, clean water, and regulation of key processes like floods and climate. With support from the McGill Sustainability Systems Initiative, we are building a community of researchers from across the social and natural sciences around landscape sustainability, training the next generation of student researchers, and engaging stakeholders locally and nationally through a knowledge-to-action approach linking science, engineering, and decision-making.

Sustainable Landscapes (MSSI)

Beijing Household Energy Transitions

The BHET project is assessing the health, environmental, and welfare impacts of a large-scale energy transition policy in peri-urban Beijing. Using the quasi-random rollout of this policy throughout villages in Beijing municipality, we are collecting detailed data on changes in household heating behavior, energy expenditures, indoor & outdoor air quality, air exposure, and other health metrics in over 1000 households in 50 villages over 4 years.

Beijing Household Energy Transitions

Natural Climate Solutions + Co-benefits

Natural Climate Solutions (NCS) are changes in land systems that primarily aim to mitigate climate change. NCS include wide range of practices & actions that sometimes correlate with other things society cares about - like biodiversity conservation or human well-being. To better direct policy and guide action on where and how to implement NCS, and in close collaboration with The Nature Conservancy, this project asks: How do various NCS pathways impact aspects of human well-being, biodiversity, and the environment?

Natural Climate Solutions + Co-benefits

Pathways to Equitable Healthy Cities

Pathways to equitable healthy cities is a global partnership that aims to improve population health, enhance health equity and ensure environmental sustainability in cities around the world through co-production of rigorous evidence with policy and civil society partners in cities in five countries. We use diverse data sources, especially emerging open and big data, and novel methods for data integration and visualisation to characterise cities dynamic social, physical and natural environments, people’s experiences of these environments, and their health.

Pathways to Equitable Healthy Cities

Grasslands & locust outbreaks

This project investigates feedbacks among locusts, livestock, nutrients and people. Current fieldwork focuses on understanding these relationships in Senegal, building on past work in China and Australia. We are investigating two overarching questions: (1) How do insect-nutrient relations and livestock grazing strategies interact to affect food security, and rangeland degradation? (2) How do property rights regimes affect the adaptive capacity of societies to respond to the linkages between overgrazing and locust outbreaks?

Grasslands & locust outbreaks

Ecosystem Service Dependency and Vulnerability

This project developed our understanding of the links between human welfare and ecosystem services by tracing rural welfare dependencies back to local ecosystems and land uses. We developed methods for capturing these dependencies through household surveys, land use data, and models of ecosystem service flows. Our primary collaborating partners were the Chinese Academy of Science and the Natural Capital Project.

Ecosystem Service Dependency and Vulnerability

Recent Publications

Wenjia Peng, Brian E Robinson, Hua Zheng, Cong Li, Fengchun Wang, Ruonan Li (2022). The limits of livelihood diversification and sustainable household well-being, evidence from China. Environmental Development, 43, 100736.

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Sierra N Clark, Abosede S Alli, Majid Ezzati, Michael Brauer, Mireille B Toledano, James Nimo, Josephine Bedford Moses, Solomon Baah, Allison Hughes, Alicia Cavanaugh, Samuel Agyei-Mensah, George Owusu, Brian E Robinson, Jill Baumgartner, James E Bennett, Raphael E Arku (2022). Spatial modelling and inequalities of environmental noise in Accra, Ghana. Environmental Research, 241, 113932.

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Jill Baumgartner, Judith Rodriguez, Frans Berkhout, Yvonne Doyle, Majid Ezzati, George Owuso, Zahidul Quayyum, Bethlehem Solomon, Meghan Winters, Gary Adamkiewicz, Brian E Robinson (2022). Synthesizing the links between secure housing tenure and health for more equitable cities. Wellcome Open Research, 7, 18.

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Marie C Dade, Elena M Bennett, Brian E Robinson (2022). Property rights play a pivotal role in the distribution of ecosystem services among beneficiaries. Ecosystems and People, 18(1), 131-145.

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See all publications

Contact

brian.e.robinson[AT]mcgill.ca
805 Sherbrooke St West, Montreal, QC H3A 0B9