Research Interests:

My broad research interests are related to the human dimensions of global change and social studies of science. I am particularly interested in understanding: (a) the use of technoscientific information, especially seasonal climate (El Nino forecasting) in building adaptive capacity to climate variability and change (drought planning, water management, and agriculture) in the U.S. and Latin America (Brazil, Mexico and Chile); (b) the impact of technocratic decisionmaking on issues of democracy and equity; (c) the co-production of science and policy and the role of technocrats as decisionmakers; (d) the role of popular participation in urban environmental policymaking and policymaker/client interactions; (e)U.S.-Mexico border region environmental policymaking especially regarding transboundary water conflict, environmental health, a common use of shared natural resources.

Teaching Interests:

international environmental public policy; environment and development; climate and development

Current/Recent Teaching:

Environmental Policymaking in Latin America ENVIRON 212 Global Change III: Impacts, Institutions and Adaptation ENVIRON 302 Environment and Development: Dilemmas of Power and Place in a Global World (with Arun Agrawal) NRE 677 Environment and Development NRE 580 Integrated Problem Solving (with Don Scavia) NRE 563 International Environmental Policy NRE 555 Climate and Development

Selected Publications:

Tompkins, E. L., M. C. Lemos, and E. Boyd (2008).  A less disastrous disaster: managing response to climate-driven hazards in the Cayman Islands and NE Brazil, Global Environmental Change, vol.18, pp. 736–745.

Lemos M.C. (2008). What influences innovation adoption by water managers? Climate information use in Brazil and the US. Journal of the American Water Resources Association (JAWRA) 44(6): 1388-1396.

Lemos, M.C. and J. T.Roberts (2008). Environmental Policymaking Networks and the Future of the Amazon. Philosophical Transactions of the RoyalSociety B, vol. 363, no. 1498/May (on-line doi:10.1098/rstb.2007.0038).

Bozmoski, A., M. C. Lemos and E. Young (2008). Prosperous Negligence: Governing the Clean Development Mechanism for markets & development. Environment. Washington: May/Jun 2008. Vol. 50, Issue 3; p. 18.

Kumler, L. M., and M. C. Lemos. 2008. Managing waters of the Paraíba do Sul river basin, Brazil: a case study in institutional change and social learning. Ecology and Society 13(2): 22. [online] URL: http://www.ecologyandsociety.org/vol13/iss2/art22/

Lemos, M. C. (2008).“Whose water is it anyway? Water management, knowledge, and equity in NEBrazil”. In Water and Equity: Fair Practice in Apportioning Water among Places andValues. Edited by John Whiteley, Richard Perry and Helen Ingram. MITPress: Cambridge, MA.

Lemos, M., E. Boyd, E. L. Tompkins, H. Osbahr and D. Liverman (2007). Developing Adaptation and Adapting Development. Ecology and Society 12(2): 26. [online] URL: http://www.ecologyandsociety.org/vol12/iss2/art26/

Lemos, M. C. and A.Agrawal (2006). Environmental Governance. AnnualReview of Environment and Natural Resources, vol. 31, pp. 297-325.