Mare Sarr takes over as the coordinator of the EfD Center in South Africa. Meet him in this interview!
Biodiversity and farmers’ risk aversion
Mare Sarr about one of his most recent research projects:
“This project is concerned with empirically assessing the effects of farmers’ risk aversion and rainfall variability on farm level agro-biodiversity. I have collaborated with Mintewab Bezabih, an EfD research associate. In this study, we used a unique panel data from Ethiopia consisting of measures of risk attitude based on field experiments combined with rainfall data. The major contribution of the study is its explicit treatment of farmers’ risk attitude in the decision of crop diversification, which to our knowledge has never been controlled for in similar empirical analyses. We found that both farmers’ risk aversion and shocks due to rainfall variability positively contribute to an increased level of diversity. These results imply that biodiversity conservation could be effective in areas with high rainfall variability. However, a policy designed to reduce farmers’ risk aversion, for instance by alleviating poverty, is likely to be detrimental to conservation.”
“I am fortunate to take over after my predecessors Edwin Muchapondwa and Martine Visser, who have successfully laid the ground of our research unit. Our ambition is that EPRU in the medium run becomes an influential player that helps shape environmental policy in South Africa both at the local and national levels, with a view to contribute to poverty alleviation,” says Mare Sarr.
Though his commitment formally starts in January 2010, Sarr is already coordinating the EfD Center in South Africa, known locally as EPRU, the Environmental Policy Research Unit. In practice, he has been its coordinator since the end of October when Martine Visser, the former coordinator, went on maternity leave.
After obtaining his PhD in Economics at University College London in December 2008, Sarr joined the School of Economics at the University of Cape Town as a lecturer. Given his interest in Resource Economics, he was approached by his colleague Martine Visser, who told him about the EfD initiative and the sort of work researchers in EPRU were doing.
“I felt that such an initiative had the potential to make a difference in developing countries in general and in South Africa in particular, so I decided to join the EfD and EPRU as a research fellow in early 2009,” says Sarr.
Please let us know some more about your EfD team.
Mare Sarr: EPRU constitutes a nice blend of young and more experienced researchers. Our centre includes five research fellows, three junior research fellows who are currently undertaking a PhD at the School of Economics at the University of Cape Town, and one research associate. The centre is still growing and we expect a couple of research associates to join EPRU in the coming year.
During the last four years, EPRU has built extensive policy-relevant experience in research pertaining to ecosystems management, biodiversity conservation, air quality and water quality. The centre also has previous research capacity and experience relevant to the socio-economics of agriculture, fisheries and conservation. Specifically, this strain of research has been concerned with farm workers’ wages, land use and rural poverty, inequality among subsistence fishermen, as well as the role of community-based wildlife conservation in poverty mitigation.
EPRU has successfully worked with a number of local and national stakeholders on medium-size projects, such as The South African National Parks in the wildlife sector, The Department of Water Affairs and Forestry in the water sector, The Department of Envi¬ronmental Affairs and Tourism on marine and coastal management, and the City of Cape Town on air quality management and energy savings. In the next few years, we plan to bid for larger research projects that will enhance collaboration among EPRU research fellows, with other researchers and, importantly, with key stakeholders.
Please tell us about your own research interests.
Mare Sarr: My research has focused mainly on the political and institutional dimensions of the resource curse - the observation that resource-rich countries tend to have poor economic performance compared to resource-poor countries - traditional knowledge, biodiversity use and intellectual property rights in the life sciences industries. More recently, I have been interested in agro-biodiversity as well as in mining and extractive sectors in Africa.
What are your thoughts about the EfD initiative?
Mare Sarr: I think the EfD Initiative is unique in helping develop high quality and useful research in Environmental Economics in developing countries. Its strength is in its mandate to produce not only good research, but also relevant research that can be usefully implemented to improve the lives of the poor who are so reliant on natural resources. Another strength is that the EfD network is conducive to exchanges of ideas and experiences, and actively facilitates research that cuts across boundaries. The major weakness is that there is at times a heavy administrative burden, which I suppose is a necessary evil. Finally, given my interest in the institutional perspective of the resource curse and traditional knowledge, I find the EfD themes fairly narrow.
What is the best part of being a researcher?
Mare Sarr: I suppose the best part of being a researcher is my freedom to indulge in whatever area/field I find interesting and relevant. I also highly value the constant intellectual discussions and challenges that help me grow and improve the quality of my research.
What are your least favorite parts?
Mare Sarr: 1) Being stuck in research and not being able to make any meaningful progress. 2) Receiving nasty referee reports.
Mare Sarr, currently the coordinator of EPRU/EfD South Africa, obtained his PhD in Economics with a specialisation in natural resources and institutions at University College London in 2008. Before that, he studied at the University of Warwick in the UK and at the Toulouse School of Economics in France. He worked as a research fellow in two EU-funded projects, Aquastress, on water management, and RefGov, on Governance of biodiversity, from 2005 to 2008 while completing his PhD. He also worked as a research fellow at the Overseas Development Institute (ODI) in London in 2005. Prior to that, he worked for six years as a finance analyst in the food and pharmaceutical industries. Read more on Mare Sarr´s personal web page
By Karin Backteman