Dr. Hayley Clements

Senior Researcher


hayleyclements@sun.ac.za

Field of research

  • social-ecological resilience
  • sustainable development
  • biodiversity conservation
  • protected areas and private land conservation
  • sustainable use

Profile

Hayley is an interdisciplinary conservation scientist who is interested in applying social-ecological systems thinking to identify resilient and equitable conservation opportunities in a changing world. Her PhD at the University of Cape Town (South Africa) assessed the social-ecological drivers of private land conservation in South Africa. She then undertook postdocs researching protected area effectiveness at Monash University (Australia) and resilience indicators at the CST.

Hayley is now leading a project entitled “Quantifying the biodiversity planetary boundary for Africa”, funded by a Jennifer Ward Oppenheimer Research Grant. The upcoming decade is critical for African countries to navigate development in ways that do not surpass a boundary of biodiversity loss, beyond which human well-being is negatively affected. This requires a measure of what biodiversity remains, where, and how the loss of biodiversity influences human well-being across different ecosystems and land uses. The project addresses this knowledge gap, promoting understanding of where investing in nature can deliver net benefits for people. Hayley is also affiliated with the University of Helsinki, researching the role of sustainable use in supporting biodiversity conservation, people and the economy in southern Africa.

 

Twitter: https://twitter.com/HayleySClements

Publications: https://scholar.google.co.za/citations?user=U5xxEMIAAAAJ&hl=en