Coppolillo.com
  • home
  • professional
    • Grants and Awards
    • Publications
    • expertise and skills
    • past projects and experience
    • Data and Collaborations
  • personal
    • photography>
      • Wildlife
      • Landscapes
      • People and Culture
      • Dogs

_Over the last 20 years, I have been lucky to work with non-profits, government, schools, philanthropic organizations and individuals, to tackle problems at the nexus of natural resources and environment, technology, and strategic planning and analysis.   The brief descriptions below highlight some of my past projects and experience. I work hard to ensure that the outputs from a particular project match the appropriate audience and objectives. The links in the right column provide examples of the diversity of outputs:


livelihoods, stakeholder and training needs assessments, & capacity building:

In the developing world and in North America, awareness of livelihoods helps us meet partners and stakeholders where they are, rather than where we want them to be.  Systematic assessments of capacity, economic and non-monetary incentives, political and cultural contexts and knowledge, both traditional and scientific, can all guide and strengthen interventions. I have worked with stakeholders ranging from global industries to marginalized individuals to design and implement projects and interventions that build on common ground and establish enduring solutions.

  • Coppolillo (In press) "A look at the future of Food Production" Conservation Biology
  • Brashares et. al. "Bushmeat and Fisheries" 2004 Science (306):1180
  • WCS Working Paper #28: Casting for Conservation Actors
  • McShane et al 2010 "Hard Choices: Making Tradeoffs Between Biodiversity and Human Well-being" Biological Conservation
  • WCS Working Paper #32 Livelihoods and Protected Areas
  • Wilkie et. al. 2009 Democracy, Governance and CBNRM
  • Usangu/Ruaha River Situaiton Analysis (Produced for WWF International)
  • Capturing Women's Voices: Gender and Pastoral Livelihoods in Ruaha
  • Coppolillo and Dickman (2007) Livelihoods and Protected Areas in the Ruaha Landscape

_conservation planning and assessment:
From 2000-2003 I helped develop and launch the Wildlife Conservation Society's Living Landscapes Program (LLP), which established a framework for strategic planning conservation action in large, diverse landscapes. This work included:
  • spatial analysis and modeling for wildlife in landscapes of protected and exploited land
  • focal (landscape) species selection criteria
  • biological modeling for setting landscape priorities
  • human and threat landscapes for livelihood and land use assessment and conflict mitigation
  • analysis of global conservation priorities and strategic frameworks

In the years since LLP, I have worked on a variety of projects assessing risks to wildlife and their habitats.
  • Coppolillo 2000 "Central-Place Analysis and Modeling of Agropastoral Land use" Landscape Ecology 16: 205-219
  • Sanderson et al (2002) "A conceptual model for Conservation Planning Based on Landscape Species Requirements" 
  • LLP Bulletin 1: Concept
  • LLP Bulletin 2: Landscape Species Approach
  • LLP Bulletin 3: Roles of Landscape Species
  • Coppolillo et al 2004 Biol Conservation "Selection Criteria for Landscape Species"   
  • Living Landscapes Bulletin 4: Selecting Landscape Species
  • Redford et al 2003 Cons. Biol "Mapping the Conservation Landscape"
  • On the Status of the Ruaha Buffalo 
  • Forrest et. al. 2008 Patterns of Land Cover Change in and Around Madidi National Park, Bolivia
  • Campagna et al: A Species Approach to Marine Ecosystem Conservation

integrated water management:
Water's enormous importance for human livelihoods and for environmental flows has made it a central part of my work.  It's 'cross-sectoral' nature and the large spatial scales of hydrological ecosystem services present significant challenges.  I have worked on water policy at regional, national and multi-national levels, eco-hydrological assessments (examining quality, quantity and timing of flows), and on the indirect effects of hydrology, like disease dynamics, herding systems and land use conflicts.

  • Coppolillo et al. Assessment of Usangu Basin Management (prepared for the Wildlife Division, Tanzania Ministry of Nat. Res. and Tourism)
  • Mtahiko et al 2006 Ecohydrology of the Ruaha River. Wetlands Ecology and Mgmt: 14 (6), 489-503
  • Survey Technical Report: Usangu 2005
  • The Unintended Consequences of Water Development
  • Landscape Ecology of Agropastoral Land Use
  • Ruaha Reborn (a semi-popular article from Wildlife Conservation Magazine)

mitigating and managing conflict: 
Conflicts between people and wildlife or among stakeholders can derail conservation efforts from the outset.  Perception can trump reality, and direct conflict can quickly ossify to become deep seated, and underlying conflict.  I have worked with conflicts stemming from carnivore-livestock interactions, crop depredation, disease, land use and resource availability, particularly water.  Transparency, understanding before being understood, and working from common objectives are a few of the strategies I bring to conflict mitigation and management.

  • Established a barrier crop program which helped participating farmers eliminate 100% of elephant incursions in the first year. 
  • Supervised assessments of hippo and carnivore conflicts.
  • Launched a carnivore conflict mitigation program, which continues today with leadership from Oxford University's WILD CRU.
  • Participatory land use planning for the 21 villages bordering Ruaha National Park's southern boundary to reduce land use conflicts and establish the Pawaga-Idodi Wildlife Management Area.

strategic planning:
In addition to implementing site-based strategic planning through the Living Landscapes Framework (above), I led the strategic planning process for WCS's Yellowstone Rockies Program, using the "Done in a Day" approach, and participated in the development of the USAID Tanzania Mission's Environment Strategic Objective.  Most recently, I facilitated the Sussex School's update of its strategic plan for 2012-15.

technology, data management and software development:
A thread running through my professional history is technology and innovation. Including:
  • collaborative development of selection software for landscape species
  • input and beta testing for Miradi project design and management software
  • development and launch of Visual Life Web, LLC a Montana-based technology company and collaborative platform



Selection Software available here
Miradi Website
Visual Life Web

zoonotic disease ecology & management:
I co-founded the HALI (Health for Animal and Livelihood Improvement) Project with Jonna Mazet from the UC Davis Wildlife Health Center, Drs. Rudovick Kazwala and Dominic Kambarage of Sokoine University of Agriculture and support from the USAID-Funded Global Livestock Collaborative Research Support Program. The HALI project began with four components: 1) wildlife health, 2) livestock health and productivity, 3)  waterborne disease, and 4) socioeconomic assessments of communities.  The HALI Project continues today in Ruaha and the "one health" model developed by WCS, UCD and HALI forms the centerpiece of the PREDICT program, now being implemented worldwide.
  • Mazet et al 2008 "A One Health Approach to Address Zoonoses: the HALI Project in Tanzania" PLOS One v6(12)
  • Research Brief: Evaluating and Managing Zoonotic Disease Risk in Tanzania
  • Research Brief: Landscape Factors Affecting Disease Risk at the Wildlife/Livestock Interface in Ruaha.
  • Health and Livelihoods in Agropastoral Communities
  • Preliminary Assessment of Skin Lesions in Ruaha Giraffe and Proposed Next Steps
Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.