Professor Frank van Veen
Professor of Ecology and Conservation
fjfv201@exeter.ac.uk @frankvanveen2
Overview:
My scientific background is in biology and specifically population and community ecology. Currently, much of my work is focussed on tropical peatlands in Indonesia which in their natural state harbour high biodiversity and store huge quantities of carbon. However, deforestation turns them into major sources of carbon emissions, and they become prone to wildfires with wide-spread health and economic impacts. I lead an interdisciplinary UK/Indonesian consortium that aims to fill natural and social-science knowledge gaps to support Indonesian governmental and non-governmental partners in their aims to restore vast areas of degraded peatland in the context of sustainable economic development.