Robert Fletcher

Robert Fletcher is a Professor in the Sociology of Development and Change department at Wageningen University & Research. His research focuses on environmental anthropology, political ecology, and critical analyses of neoliberal conservation strategies. He explores how cultural perceptions and political-economic structures shape natural resource use and conflicts, with fieldwork in Latin America and East Africa. Key publications include Failing Forward (2023) and Nature™ Inc. (2014), critiquing market-based environmental solutions. He leads the Basic Income for Nature and Climate (BINC) Research Laboratory and has been involved in transformative projects like CONVIVA. Promoted to personal professor in 2024, his work emphasizes post-capitalist alternatives for sustainability.

Expertise spans environmental policy, forest governance, climate change, and tourism's socio-ecological impacts. He teaches courses on political ecologies, qualitative research methods, and development sociology. Current projects investigate conservation finance, degrowth tourism, and human-wildlife coexistence.