Rebecca Kariuki
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ROB AND MELANI WALTON CENTER FOR PLANETARY HEALTH Tempe, AZ 85287
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Mail code: 7904Campus: Tempe
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Dr. Rebecca Kariuki is an Assistant Professor at the School of Sustainability in Arizona State University. She is also an African Academy of Science Affiliate and was a 2022 Climate Change Fellow at the African Institute for Mathematical Sciences (AIMS), Rwanda and a 2021 Carson Fellow at the Rachel Carson Center for Environment and Society at the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, Germany.
Dr. Kariuki’s research centers around conservation, land use systems, social-ecological systems and water management in East and southern Africa landscapes. Broader themes that her research focuses’ on include: 1) understanding the causes and consequences of land use change around protected areas; 2) use of knowledge coproduction, environmental modelling, and scenario planning to explore desirable and sustainable futures for biodiversity-rich areas; and 3) exploring the potential of nature-based solutions to address sustainability challenges. She collaborates with researchers and practitioners from the USA, UK, Sweden, Kenya, Namibia, Tanzania, and Botswana to address her research interests. Prior to joining Arizona State University, Dr. Kariuki did postdoctoral research at the Nelson Mandela African Institute of Science and Technology (NM-AIST), Tanzania and the University of York, UK. She also worked as a consultant for the British Institute in Eastern Africa (BIEA), Kenya and the University of York, UK.
PhD. Environmental Geography, University of York, United Kingdom.
MSc. Biology of Conservation, University of Nairobi, Kenya
BSc. Chemistry and Zoology, University of Nairobi, Kenya.
Kariuki, R.W., Thorn, J.P.R., Mfune, J.K.E., Marchant, R. and Capitani, C., 2025. Near and far future conservation, land use, and land cover interactions around the wider Etosha landscape, north-central Namibia. Regional Environmental Change, 25(2), pp.1-13.
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10113-025-02388-8
Mustaphi, C.J.C., Camara-Brugger, S.O., Chellman, N.J., Muñoz, S., Kariuki, R.W., Damber, M., Shoemaker, A., Ekblom, A., Munishi, L., Lane, P. and Marchant, R., 2025. Multiple paleofire proxy metrics from tropical lake sediment and soil in the Greater Serengeti Ecosystem. The Holocene, p.09596836251340882.
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/09596836251340882
Yannelli, F., Visakorpi, K., Arponen, A., Arnillas, C., Chinga Chamorro, J., Chiuffo, M.C., Collinge, S.K., Cousens, R., Devarajan, K., Ehrlich, K., Grell-Brisk, M., Kariuki, R.W., Kharouba, H.M., Ortiz, A.M.D., Prado-Valladares, A., Regan, H., Schnabel, F., Soares, B.E., Stotz, G.C., Williams, M., Cadotte, M.W., 2025. Ecology for a social revolution: Re-defining the role of ecological and environmental science professionals and their responsibilities towards society. Research Ideas and Outcomes 11: e152859.
https://riojournal.com/article/152859/list/9/
Mustaphi, C.J.C., Camara-Brugger, S.O., Ekblom, A., Munishi, L., Kariuki, R., Shoemaker, A., Lane, P. and Marchant, R., 2025. Multiporate Poaceae pollen grains observed in the recent fossil record from the Greater Serengeti Ecosystem and Lake Victoria region. Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology, 333, p.105240.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S003466672400191X
Capitani, C., Kariuki, R.W. and Marucco, F., 2024. Impacts of people’s engagement in nature conservation. Frontiers in Conservation Science, 5, p.1521270.
https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/conservation-science/articles/10.3…
Kelman, C.C., Srinivasan, J., Bajaj, T.L., Raschke, A.B., Brown-Wood, R.N., Kellner, E., Ahn, M., Kariuki, R.W., Simeone, M. and Schoon, M., 2024. Convergence research as transdisciplinary knowledge coproduction within cases of effective collaborative governance of social-ecological systems. Ecology and Society, 29(4).
https://ecologyandsociety.org/vol29/iss4/art23/
Arnillas, C. A., Stotz, G., Chinga Chamorro, J. B., Collinge, S., Chiuffo, M., Kariuki, R.W, Norman, H., Ortiz, A. M., Regan, H. M., Visakorpi, K., Devarajan, K., Klein, A.-M., Schnabel, F., Arponen, A., Cadotte, M. W., Cousens, R., Ehrlich, K., Grell-Brisk, M., Hughes, L., Kharouba, H.M., Martin, T.G., Rumpff, L., Eleres Soares, B., Prado-Valladares, A.C., Williams, M., Winter, M., Yannelli, F.A., Beyene, M., Fernando, S., Hart, T., Santaoja, M. and Santos Domínguez, N. (2024). The Conguillío Statement on the values and responsibilities of ecologists: preprint. EcoEvoRxiv.
https://ecoevorxiv.org/repository/view/7468/
Ortiz, A.M.D., Kariuki, R., Domínguez, N.S., Arnillas, C.A. and Regan, H.M., 2024. A review of professional ecological societies’ values, missions, and ethics. preprint. EcoEvoRxiv
https://ecoevorxiv.org/repository/view/7466/
Newman, R.J., Enns, C., Capitani, C., Thorn, J.P., Courtney-Mustaphi, C.J., Buckton, S.J., Om, E.S., Fazey, I., Haji, T.A., Nchimbi, A.Y., Kariuki, R.W. and Marchant, R.A. 2024. ‘Kesho’Scenario Development for Supporting Water-Energy Food Security under Future Conditions in Zanzibar. Land, 13(2), p.195.
https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/13/2/195
Scaini, A., Mulligan, J., Berg, H., Brangarí, A., Bukachi, V., Carenzo, S., Thi, DC., Courtney-Mustaphi, C., Ekblom, A., Fjelde, H., Fridahl, M., Hansson, A., Hicks, L., Höjer, M., Juma, B., Kain, J-H., Kariuki, RW., Kim, S., Lane, P., Leizeaga, A., Lindborg, R., Livsey, J., Lyon, SW., Marchant, R., McConville, JR., Munishi, L., Nilsson., D, Olang, L., Olin., S, Olsson, L., Rogers, PM., Rousk, J., Sandén, H., Sasaki, N., Shoemaker, A., Smith, B., Phuong, TH., Varela Varela, A., Venkatappa, M., Vico, G., Von Uexkull, N., Wamsler, C., Wondie, M., Zapata, P., Campos, MJ., Manzoni, S. & Tompsett, A. 2024, 'Pathways from research to sustainable development : insights from ten research projects in sustainability and resilience', Ambio, 53(7), pp.517-533
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s13280-023-01968-4
Kariuki, R.W., Capitani, C., Munishi, L.K., Shoemaker, A., Courtney Mustaphi, C.J., William, N., Lane, P.J. & Marchant, R., 2022. Serengeti’s futures: Exploring land use and land cover change scenarios to craft pathways for meeting conservation and development goals. Frontiers in Conservation Science, p.92.
https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/conservation-science/articles/10.3…
Wilkinson, J. L., Boxall, A. B., Kolpin, D. W., Leung, K. M., Lai, R. W., Galbán-Malagón, C., Adell, A. D., Mondon, J., …Kariuki, R., …Sims, D.B., Figy, M.,Good, D. & Teta, C. (2022). Pharmaceutical pollution of the world’s rivers. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 119(8).
https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2113947119
Kariuki, R. W., Munishi, L. K., Courtney-Mustaphi, C. J., Capitani, C., Shoemaker, A., Lane, P. J., & Marchant, R. (2021). Integrating stakeholders’ perspectives and spatial modelling to develop scenarios of future land use and land cover change in northern Tanzania. PloS One, 16(2), e0245516.
https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.02455…
Kariuki, R. W., Western, D., Willcock, S., & Marchant, R. (2021). Assessing interactions between agriculture, livestock grazing and wildlife conservation land uses: A historical example from East Africa. Land, 10(1), 46.
https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/10/1/46
Courtney-Mustaphi, C., Kariuki, R. W., Shoemaker, A., Munishi, L., Ekblom, A., Marchant, R., & Lane, P. (2021). Understanding Land Use and Land Cover Changes in Northern Tanzania. Schweizerische Gesellschaft für Afrikastudien SSEA-SGAS
Newman, R. J. S., Capitani, C., Courtney-Mustaphi, C., Thorn, J. P. R., Kariuki, R., Enns, C., & Marchant, R. (2020). Integrating insights from social-ecological interactions into sustainable land use change scenarios for small Islands in the western Indian ocean. Sustainability, 12(4), 1340.
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/12/4/1340
Mustaphi, C.J.C., Capitani, C., Boles, O., Kariuki, R., Newman, R., Munishi, L., Marchant, R. and Lane, P., 2019. Integrating evidence of land use and land cover change for land management policy formulation along the Kenya-Tanzania borderlands. Anthropocene, 28, p.100228.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S2213305419300396
Kariuki, R., Willcock, S., & Marchant, R. (2018). Rangeland livelihood strategies under varying climate Regimes: Model insights from Southern Kenya. Land, 7(2), 47.
https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/7/2/47
Marchant, R., S. Richer, C. Capitani, C. Courtney-Mustaphi, M. Prendergast, D. Stump, S. Wynne-Jones, O. Boles, D. Wright, C. F. Vazquez, J. Lejju, C. Lang, P. Lane, A. Kay, L. Phelps, D. Fuller, M. Widgren, P. Punwong, N. Boivin, M. Gaillard-Lemdahl, K. Morrison, J. Kaplan, J. Benard, A. Crowther, A. Cuní-Sanchez, G. de Cort, N. Deeres, J. Farmer, L. Gillson, E. Githumbi, T. Kabora, R. Kariuki, R. Kinyanjui, E. Kyazike, H. McParland, V. Muiruri, C. Mumbi, R. Muthoni, A. Muzuka, E. Ndiema, C. Nzaba, D. Olago, I. Onjala, A. P. Schrijver, N. Petek, A. Reid, S. Rucina, C. Shipton, A. Shoemaker, S. Thornton-Barnett, G. van der Plas, L. Watson, and D. Williamson (2018) Drivers and trajectories of land cover change in East Africa: human and environmental interactions from 6000 years ago to present. Earth-Science Reviews, 178, 322-378
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0012825217303331
Githumbi, E.N., Kariuki, R., Shoemaker, A., Courtney-Mustaphi, C.J., Chuhilla, M., Richer, S., Lane, P. and Marchant, R., 2018. Pollen, people, and place: multidisciplinary perspectives on ecosystem change at Amboseli, Kenya. Frontiers in Earth Science, 5, p.113.
https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/earth-science/articles/10.3389/fea…
Kariuki, R., Marchant, R., and Willcock, S., 2018. Ecosystem services in Africa, in The Routledge Handbook of African Development ed. Tony Binns, Kenneth Lynch and Etienne Nel (Abingdon: Routledge).
Courtney-Mustaphi, C. J., Shoemaker, A. C., Githumbi, E. N., Kariuki, R., Muriuki, R. M., Rucina, S., and Marchant, R., 2015. Historical ecology perspectives of changes in Amboseli, Kenya. GLP, 12, 26-29.
Courses
2026 Spring
| Course Number | Course Title |
|---|---|
| SOS 110 | Building a Sustainable World |
2025 Fall
| Course Number | Course Title |
|---|---|
| SOS 311 | Future Thinking and Strategies |
| SOS 110 | Building a Sustainable World |