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Dr Atupelye Komba

Tanzania

Biography

Dr Atupelye Komba was born in Iringa Town in Tanzania in 1991. In 2014 she graduated with her Bachelor’s degree in Geoinformatics from Ardhi University, Tanzania. She then attained Master’s degree in Environment Science in 2018, followed by a PhD in Environmental Science Development in 2021 both from Hokkaido University, Japan under Monbukagakusho MEXT Scholarship.  Her research interest is situated at the intersection of land use/ land cover dynamics, rural political ecology and sustainable livelihood of rural communities. Her PhD thesis is titled ‘Savannah disturbances and human-wildlife coexistence inside and around East African protected areas. Interested in optimal space which is utilized for survival by both wildlife and human in unprotected rural areas, the dissertation took Tanzania as a case study to investigate the potential of long-term human-wildlife co-existence in the marginalized rural communities within and at the edges of protected areas.  Between 2016 and 2018, she worked extensively with Maasai communities in Ngorongoro Conservation Area to study the dynamics of their livestock grazing patterns and participatory mapping of habitat dynamics to contribute to informing policy formulation and challenges facing Ngorongoro Conservation Area. 

She currently works at Ardhi University as a lecturer and conducts several research activities and consultancies including, participatory mapping of shared space between humans and chimpanzees in Kigoma, Tanzania. Atupelye also volunteers at Nature Tanzania as a facilitator. Nature Tanzania is a local NGO that advocates for the planning and implementation of biodiversity conservation through the lenses of birds as indicators of ecosystem health and a tool for biodiversity conservation.