Amanda works in the Water Resources Program in the Davis, CA, office of SEI-U.S.

Her research interests lie at the intersection of climate change and sustainable development, with a focus on vulnerability and adaptation to the impacts of climate change on water systems.

Since 2007, Amanda has provided technical assistance to developing countries primarily for assessments of vulnerability to adverse climate change impacts and integration of climate risks into local, national, and regional policies and planning processes. She provided technical assistance and capacity building in the preparation Second National Communications under the UNFCCC regarding assessing of sector vulnerability, including an emphasis on mapping coastal vulnerability to sea-level rise using Geographic Information Systems (GIS). Through her work at SEI, Amanda has contributed to climate change adaptation planning in the Middle East, Europe and Africa.

Prior to joining SEI, Amanda spent 4 years working for the Tufts Climate Initiative and the Office of Sustainability on an array of campus greening and outreach projects. While at Tufts, she spent 5 months in Madagascar studying ecology, conservation, and sustainable livelihoods. Her interdisciplinary thesis explored the relationship between microcredit, social-ecological resilience, and sustainable development in Tuléar, Madagascar.

Amanda was a 2006 Udall Foundation Scholar, a Tufts Institute of the Environment Undergraduate Research Fellow, and an International Relations Summer Scholar. She received her B.A. in International Relations and Environmental Studies from Tufts University in 2007. As a 2011 Across Borders Fellow, she spent July 2011 exploring trans-boundary environmental resource issues in the Middle East.

Publications

• Water in a Low-Carbon Economy: Resource Scarcity, Climate Change and Business in a Finite World (Policy brief) (Policy brief - 2012)

• Biomass in a Low-Carbon Economy: Resource Scarcity, Climate Change, and Business in a Finite World (Policy brief) (Policy brief - 2012)

• Biomass in a Low-Carbon Economy: Resource Scarcity, Climate Change, and Business in a Finite World (Project report - 2012)

• Water for Electricity: Resource Scarcity, Climate Change and Business in a Finite World (Project report - 2012)

• Indonesia Climate Change Adaptation Action plan (RAN-API): Concept Note (Other publications - 2012)

• Testing a multi-scale scenario approach for smallholder tree plantations in Indonesia and Vietnam (Journal article - 2012)

• Water scarcity and climate change adaptation for Yemen's vulnerable communities (Journal article - 2011)

• Costing Climate Impacts and Adaptation: A Canadian Study on Coastal Zones (Report - 2010)

• Innovation and diffusion of sustainable agricultural water resource management in a changing climate: A case study in Northeast Thailand (Project report - 2010)

• Greenhouse gas reduction benefits and costs of a large-scale transition to hydrogen in the USA (Journal article - 2009)

Complete list of publications »

Projects

• Adaptation Without Borders - understanding the indirect impacts of climate change RCR03 TG10

  
  

• Modeling the role of páramo in mountain hydrology under climate change

  
  

• Quito Vulnerability Study

  
  

• Analyzing the role of rural institutions in enabling adaptation to climate change in the agriculture sector

  
  

• Developing Climate Risk Management Strategies for Water Utilities

  
  

• 3C - Resource scarcity

  
  

• SEI M&E Development and Management (Phase II)

  
  

• Inequality and Sustainability

  
  

• Sudan Second National Communication

  
  

• Bhutan Greenhouse Gas Inventory

  
  

• Adaptation Project Formulation for Sudan

  
  

• Afghanistan Climate Change Adaptation Action Plans

  
  

• Climate Adaptation Plan for Ghana

  
  

• Climate Change Adaptation Sourcebook

  
  

• Vulnerability to Climate Change in the Abu Dhabi Emirate

  
  

• National-level Climate Change Adaptation Action Plans

  
  

• User guide for Investment and Financial Flows

  
  

• Technology Needs Assessment Handbook

  
  

• US State and Regional Climate Change Advisory Group Processes

  
  

• U.S. State and Regional Climate Change Processes

  
  

• Technical Support for NAPA

  
  

• Technical support for international climate change adaptation research

  
  

• Technical support for climate change adaptation in the U.S. at the State Level

  
  

• State and Regional Climate Change Advisory Group Processes

  
  

• Adaptation to Climate Change in the Sudan

  
  

• Adaptation to Climate Change in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA)