Modeling tropical forest carbon to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to the atmosphere Developing ways to adapt to climate change in arid and semi-arid grasslands to benefit people living on livestock
Dennis Ojima is a Senior Scholar and co-Director of Mitigation Programs at the Heinz Center. He is also a Senior Research Scientist of the Natural Resource Ecology Laboratory (NREL) at Colorado State University where he was Interim Director from 2005 to 2006. Dr. Ojima received his BA and Masters Degree in Botany from Pomona College (1975) and the University of Florida (1978), and his PhD from the Rangeland Ecosystem Science Department at Colorado State University in 1987. His current US research contributes to the North American Carbon Project. His research areas include global change effects on ecosystem dynamics and regional climate change assessment for the Central Great Plains, as well as international efforts in Central Asia, Mongolia, and China. His research with the Chinese Academy of Sciences includes development of Regional Carbon Management. Dr. Ojima is also member on the U.S. National SCOPE Committee and member-at-large on the Governing Board of the Ecological Society of America (2005-2007).
Climate change is affecting water availability, land degradation, and loss of biological resources that society depends on. Development of coping strategies to deal with climate change impacts is critical to meeting the needs of people and the environment. Developing legislation to support local communities to deal with climate change impacts will benefit the sustainability of livelihoods in our rural communities.
