Robin Marsh, Ph.D.
 Named CSRD's New Academic Coordinator

Robin agrees with the Center's approach to resource issues. "To fully understand both the opportunities and obstacles for sustainable development," she explains, "one needs to consider the qualities and interactions of different resources—natural, physical, human, social, financial and political." "One of the CSRD's core principles," Dr. Marsh says, "is inter-disciplinarity, which it encourages through cross-sectoral research and outreach to solve pressing environmental and resource use problems."

Robin received her Ph.D. in agricultural economics from the Food Research Institute, Stanford University, in 1991. For the last three years, she worked with the Rural Institutions and Participation Service of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), Rome, where she designed and managed a research program on the dynamics of rural household livelihood strategies and interactions with local institutions. The FAO program consisted of pilot research projects in India, Mozambique and Mexico resulting in several publications and policy workshops.

At FAO, Robin was instrumental in leading a collaborative effort with IFAD, WFP and UNDP of the United Nations, CARE and the UK Department for International Development (DFID) to integrate an interdisciplinary "sustainable livelihoods approach" (SLA) into the respective normative and field programs of each of the participating agencies. It was an important change, she argues. "Studying natural resources in isolation of communities and their livelihoods is a sectoral approach that did not lead to sustainable solutions."

Before working at FAO, Dr. Marsh was a Senior Research Associate at the Center for North American Integration and Development, School of Public Policy and Social Research, UCLA, where she conducted research and organized conferences on the economic, social and environmental impacts of NAFTA, focusing on interdependencies between California and Mexican agriculture and opportunities for small farmers in Mexico to compete under NAFTA. Robin brings to CSRD strong expertise in Latin American rural and agricultural development and fluency in Spanish (she received an MA in Latin American Studies from UCLA).

From 1992-1995, Dr. Marsh was a socio-economist with the Asian Vegetable Research and Development Center (an associate center of the CGIAR). She was leader of the Garden Program and conducted field research in Asia and Central America on the economic and food security benefits of home and market gardening, particularly for the landless and near-landless rural poor. She has authored numerous articles on this subject and continues to be a technical advisor to IPGRI for the global project: Home Gardens for In Situ Conservation. A related area of interest is urban and peri-urban agriculture (UPA), and Robin has provided technical assistance on UPA to projects in Africa, Asia and Latin America.

Robin has also worked on several issues related to California agriculture and natural resource management such as water and drought management, alternative pest management strategies, organic horticulture and farm labor and migration. She co-authored the study Economics of Water Availability in California Agriculture (1992), Regulating Chemicals: A Public Policy Quandary (1989), and The Organic Produce Niche Market: Can Mexican Smallholders be Stakeholders? (1997).

Robin sees the direction of the Center in clear terms. "We need to be people-centered in our approach," she says. "The goal is to come up with science-based technology and policy advice that promotes sustainable livelihoods for rural and urban populations, without degrading the environment."

Robin Marsh's Curriculum Vitae
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