Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences - Biogeography

Status   E-Mail   Office location Phone

Visiting Scientist   malikavs@gmail.com   Rudower Chaussee 16, Room 2'105 +49 (0)30 2093-5394

About me

I work in the Science and Policy interphase especially focussing in the agriculture-energy-environment nexus. My work in this field have involved improving sustainability standards, establishing deforestation-free supply chains, defining low-carbon pathways for urban development, enabling equitable green growth and responsible mining.

Previously, I have worked for many years on the ground on conservation and agricultural programmes in Madagascar, Congo and several Indian Ocean islands.

Lately, I have founded Sensemakers Collective, a boutique consultancy, where we work as system change facilitators for a global environmental,  social and economic transformation. Sensemakers Collective harnesses co-creation to enhance systemic strategic planning, purpose-orientation, organisational evaluation, learning, and change.

As an accredited facilitator and systems scientist, I help systemic change by integrating various state-of-the-art facilitation approaches enabling embodied, emotional, and cognitive intelligence. These different forms of intelligence can help achieve more purpose-driven decision-making and in this way support collective transformation processes.

My current or prospective projects in Science-Policy include:

• Capacity Building of the UNDP's Green Growth Commodities Community in Systems Practice
• Evaluation of UNDP’s Good Growth Partnership
• Facilitating system practices for the  UNDP’s Good Growth Partnership.
• Evaluating and coaching the Climate Alliance ‘s Change the Power Partnership
• WWF ‘s Collaboration for Forest and Agriculture – providing innovation in systems practice and understanding of stakeholders through systems science role playing games. I provided analysis and insight on issues on deforestation free supply chains.
• Facilitating Endeva ii2030, an event which brought together leading innovators from corporates, startups, the public sector, NGOs and science to co-create solutions to achieve a more inclusive society by 2030
• Achieving more sustainable trade for the Mercosur agreement.

Curriculum Vitae

Publications

Green, J.M.H, Croft, S.A, Durán, A.P, Balmford, A.P, Burgess, N.D., Fick, S., Gardner, T.A, Godar, J., Suavet, C, Virah-Sawmy, M., Young, L.E., West, C.D: Linking global drivers of agricultural trade to on-the-ground impacts on biodiversity. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS 116 (46), 23202-23208).

Durán, A.P., Green, J.M., West, C.D., Visconti, P., Burgess, N.D., Virah-Sawmy, M. and Balmford, A. (2018): Putting species back on the map: devising a robust method for quantifying the biodiversity impacts of land conversion. Methods in Ecology and Evolution (in press).

Guerrero, A., Biggs, D., Jones, N., Virah-Sawmy, M., Ross, H (2018): Mental models on reducing deforestation in supply chains: Insights from the soy sector. Environment Science and Policy (accepted, May 2020).

Kehoe, L., Reis, T. Virah-Sawmy, M., Kuemmerle, T (2019). Call to prioritize human rights and the environment in EU trade talks with Brazil. Science, 364, 6438.

Virah-Sawmy, M., Duran, P., Guerrero, AM, Green, J., Biggs, D., West, C. (2019): Sustainability gridlock in a global agricultural commodity chain: reframing the soy-meat food system. Sustainable Production and Consumption 18, 210-223.

Gillson, L., Biggs, H., Smit, I.P., Virah-Sawmy, M. and Rogers, K. (2018): Finding Common Ground between Adaptive Management and Evidence-Based Approaches to Biodiversity Conservation. Trends in ecology & evolution, 34, 31-44.

Pitt, R., Wyborn, C., Page, G., Hutton, J., Virah Sawmy, M., Ryan, M. and Gallagher, L. (2018): Wrestling with the complexity of evaluation for organizations at the boundary of science, policy and practice. Conservation Biology 2, 998-1006.

Joppa, L. N., O'Connor, B. C., & Visconti, P, Virah-Sawmy, M. et al. (2016): Filling in biodiversity threat gaps. Science, 352, 416-418.

Virah-Sawmy, M., Gillson, L., Gardner, C.J., Anderson, A., Clark, G. and Haberle, S. (2016). A landscape vulnerability framework for identifying integrated conservation and adaptation pathways to climate change: the case of Madagascar’s spiny forest. Landscape ecology, 31, 637-654.

Virah-Sawmy, M. (2015). Growing inclusive business models in the extractive industries: Demonstrating a smart concept to scale up positive social impacts. The Extractive Industries and Society, 2, 676-679.

Virah-Sawmy, M., Stoklosa, J. and Ebeling, J. (2015). A probabilistic scenario approach for developing improved Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation (REDD+) baselines. Global Ecology and Conservation, 4, 602-613.

Virah-Sawmy, M., Ebeling, J. and Taplin, R. (2014): Mining and biodiversity offsets: A transparent and science-based approach to measure “no-net-loss”. Journal of environmental management, 143, 61-70.

Gardner, CJ, Virah-Sawmy, M. et al. (2013) Protected areas for conservation and poverty alleviation: experiences from Madagascar. Journal of Applied Ecology 50, 1289-1294

Virah-Sawmy, M.et al. (2013). The Durban Vision in practice: participatory governance in Madagascar’s new protected areas. In I Scales (editor). Madagascar at Crossroads. Earthscan publication, UK

Virah-Sawmy, M. and Ebeling, J (2010). The difficult road toward real-world engagement: conservation science and mining in southern Madagascar. Conservation Letters 3, 288-289.

Virah-Sawmy, M., Willis, K.J. and Gillson, L. (2009). Does heterogeneity enhance resilience to rapid climatic changes? Sea-level rise and ecological dynamics in Madagascar’s hottest hotspot. Ecological Monograph 79, 557–574.

Virah-Sawmy, M. (2009). Ecosystem Management in Madagascar during global change. Conservation Letters 2, 163-177.

Virah-Sawmy, M., Bonsall, M. and Willis, K.J. (2009). ‘Tales of Symphonia’: extinction dynamics in response to past climate change in Madagascan rainforests. Biology Letters 5, 821-825

Virah-Sawmy, M., Willis, K.J. and Gillson, L. (2009). Evidence for drought and forest declines during the recent megafaunal extinctions in Madagascar. Journal of Biogeography 37, 506 – 519

Virah-Sawmy, M. et al. (2009). Rapid forest degradation in a Mauritian rainforest following 60 years of invasion. Oryx 43, 599–607.

Virah-Sawmy, M., Willis, K.J. and Gillson, L. (2009). Threshold Response of Madagascar’s littoral forest to sea-level rise. Global Ecology and Biogeography 18, 98-100.

Ebeling, J., Virah-Sawmy, M. and Moura Costa, P. (2009). Using international carbon markets to finance forest restoration while mitigating climate change. In F.A. Comín (editor). Ecological Restoration: A Global Challenge. Cambridge University Press-CSIC

Willis, K.J., Gillson, L and Virah-Sawmy, M., (2008). Nature or nurture: the ambiguity of grasslands in Madagascar. Journal of Biogeography 35, 1741-1742.

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