Bio

At IRES, Madison Stevens was a PhD candidate and UBC Public Scholar at the Institute for Resources, Environment, and Sustainability at the University of British Columbia, under the supervision of Dr. Terre Satterfield. Her research interests focus on the nature of conservation decision-making, asking questions about how evidence and knowledges are applied to conservation problems, who makes decisions, and how conservation models account for human rights. For her dissertation research, she employed mixed social science methods and a political ecology lens to understand the governance and stewardship dimensions of community forests in Uttarakhand, India. She was also involved in projects focused on the equity dimensions of climate adaptation and the use of evidence in conservation planning in Canada. In 2021 Madison acted as a Climate Expert for the Climate Teaching Connector program at UBC, and a Project Assistant for the Canadian Mountain Assessment project. She holds a BA in Comparative Literary and Cultural Studies from Franklin University, Switzerland, in 2015, where her thesis highlighted Indigenous land rights and conflict in Uganda. Her professional background includes a decade of experience working for conservation nonprofit organizations, notably as an Education Media Specialist and Logistics Coordinator with Polar Bears International since 2011. When not working, she likes to spend her days playing outside, immersed in appreciation for the wilder places.

Featured Publications

Stevens, M, & Norris, R. (2022). A mixed methodology for evaluating use of evidence in conservation planning. Conservation Biology. https://doi.org/10.1111/cobi.13876

Stevens, M, & Ramesh, K. (In press). ‘If there is jangal, there is everything’: exercising stewardship rights and responsibilities in van panchayat community forests, Johar Valley, Uttarakhand, India. In J. Bulkan, J. Palmer, M. Hobley, & A. M. Larson (Eds.), Handbook on Community Forestry. Routledge. https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/edit/10.4324/9780367488710/routledge-handbook-community-forestry-janette-bulkan-john-palmer-mary-hobley-anne-larson

Adler, C, Wester, P, Bhatt, I […] Stevens, M (Contributing Author). (2022). Cross-Chapter Paper 5: Mountains. Second Order Draft. IPCC WGII (Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability) Sixth Assessment Report. https://www.ipcc.ch/report/sixth-assessment-report-working-group-ii/

McDowell, G, Stevens, M, Lesnikowski, A, Huggel, C, Harden, A, DiBella, J, Morecroft, M, Kumar, P, Joe, ET, Bhatt, I. (2021). Closing the adaptation gap in mountains. Mountain Research and Development 41(3) A1-A10. https://doi.org/10.1659/MRD-JOURNAL-D-21-00033.1