Rachel Carmenta

Rachel Carmenta is an Associate Professor in Climate Change and International Development at the University of East Anglia, affiliated with the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research and the School of Global Development. Her work focuses on interdisciplinary research at the intersection of environment and development, emphasizing the design and equity of environmental governance systems in tropical landscapes. She has conducted extensive fieldwork in the Brazilian Amazon and Indonesian peatlands, studying wildfire dynamics, land-use change, and their socio-ecological impacts.

Carmenta holds a PhD from Lancaster University and previously held positions at the University of Cambridge and CIFOR. She currently co-leads the 'Achieving well-being with Climate Action' research theme at the Tyndall Centre and chairs the Forests, Fires and Peoples working group. Her research bridges political ecology, environmental justice, and fire governance, advocating for plural values of nature in policy.

Key research themes include tropical wildfire management, human well-being in environmental interventions, and equitable conservation strategies. She leads projects funded by Horizon Europe, the Leverhulme Trust, and others, addressing fire governance, prescribed burns, and climate adaptation. Carmenta advises international bodies like UNESCO and contributes to global sustainability frameworks.

Her teaching spans undergraduate and postgraduate programs in global development. She actively supervises PhD students exploring topics like fire mitigation, ecocide law, and gendered well-being in fisheries. Carmenta emphasizes transformative, justice-centered approaches to climate and biodiversity crises, prioritizing marginalized voices in policy design.