Rebecca Asare

Rebecca Ashley is currently pursuing a Masters in Environmental Management at the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies. Studying social ecology and community development in Africa, Rebecca is focused on how to truly integrate environmental conservation with human needs. This summer, Rebecca will work with the International Centre for Research in Agroforestry (ICRAF) in Uganda. She hopes to identify what factors influence farmers' management and use of trees on their farms in the buffer zone of Bwindi Impenetrable National Park. This research will play a key role in identifying indigenous species for reintroduction within this buffer zone, in an effort to meet local demand for forest products and alleviate human pressure on the park. Rebecca is also an emerging author who sees her role as a valuable liaison communicating the reality of life in developing countries to the greater environmental global community. Rebecca recently returned from three and a half years in Cote d'Ivoire, West Africa, where she worked for the World Wildlife Fund's Western Africa Regional Programme Office on an Information, Education, and Communication project in villages bordering the Como National Park. She also served as a Peace Corps volunteer addressing issues of rural water supply and sanitation. As an undergraduate at Colgate University, Rebecca spent a semester in Tanzania studying Wildlife Ecology and Conservation through the School for International Training. Her semester culminated in a month long internship in the Rwandan Refugee Camps with Care International and Oxfam assessing the environmental and social impact of a proposed water pipeline on local herders, and interviewing refugee mothers about firewood collection and reproductive health.