ESPA (www.espa.ac.uk) is a seven year, £40 million research programme funded by the Department for International Development and two government research councils (NERC and ESRC) in the UK. It aims to provide new knowledge to show how ecosystem services can reduce poverty and enhance well-being for the world’s poor.
The Advisory Committee provides strategic advice to the ESPA Directorate and the Programme Executive Board by reviewing the relevance, quality and strategic coherence of the programme. It also provides advice on the programme’s research strategy to ensure that it responds to relevant needs and the demands of developing countries as well as those of the international funding partners.
Prof Fabricius was also recently appointed as the Science Leader of a high-level international think-tank about sustainability, the Resilience Alliance, after serving on their board for the past five years.
Says Fabricius: “My hope is that by playing a leading role in these programmes, I could bring the sustainability needs of sub-Saharan Africa to the attention of the international science community in my field, and also benefit my students and NMMU”.