Focus: Sahel region
Telephone: +31 634394843
E-mail:
m.van.den.bergh@ascleiden.nl
Michiel van den Bergh (1983) conducts Ph.D research for Vogelbescherming
Nederland (VBN; BirdLife International’s national partner in the
Netherlands) at the University of Leiden and is based at the African
Studies Centre. VBN has unofficially launched a new project called
‘Living on the edge’. It is a new and ambitious initiative to improve
living conditions in the Sahel for birds and people, by working with the
local to conserve and restore the natural environment, and enhance
livelihoods through a more sustainable use of natural resources. The
Ph.D is part of the project and will be linking development and
conservation in the Sahelian drylands. The research goal is divided into
two focus areas: 1) The socio-economic aspects of, and their relation
with, habitat, landscape, land use, and bird- and habitat conservation.
2) The project's political, societal and institutional aspects: actors,
partners, directing possibilities, and level of implementation of
potential conservation strategies in the Sahel drylands. The research
will include fieldwork in Sahelian countries.
He started his Ph.D in March 2011. His supervisors are Prof. Ton Dietz,
Dr. Dick Foeken, Bernd de Bruijn (VBN), and Huub Hendrix (ASC & VBN).
Prior to his Ph.D research, he studied Human Geography at the University
of Amsterdam and obtained a Masters degree in Developmental - and
Environmental Geography. In 2006, Michiel successfully completed 5
courses in environmental management and human development at the Wilfrid
Laurier University in Waterloo, Canada
Printable version
