Marcus Kaplan
e-mail: kaplan (at) ehs.unu.edu
BACKGROUND
Marcus holds a Master of Science in Geography from the University of Bonn. He joined UNU-EHS in 2005 as a PhD Researcher. He also participated in the Bonn International Graduate School for Development Research (BIGS-DR) at the
Center for Development Research
.
WORKING AREA AT UNU-EHS
In his PhD research Marcus deals with land-use and land-cover changes (LUCC) in a small coastal lagoon in southwestern Sri Lanka (Maduganga). For data collection he works with extensive household surveys based on the Sustainable Livelihoods framework, remote sensing for land-use classification, multivariate statistics, expert interviews, and secondary data in order to analyze household behaviour and historical LUCC. The collected data and analytical results are used for agent-based simulations of LUCC and associated socio-economic dynamics.
In the other major pillar of his research he focuses on the vulnerability of communities to natural hazards by analyzing the impacts of the tsunami in December 2004 on ecosystems and livelihoods in the study area (ex post assessment). Used methodologies are household surveys based on the Turner framework, development and statistical analyses of vulnerability indicators, spatial analysis, and vegetation surveys. The study revealed the vulnerability of different livelihood groups to natural hazards, linkages between human and environmental components of the system under consideration, as well as how mangroves and other coastal vegetation contributed to protecting the people form the forces of the tsunami waves.
PUBLICATIONS
Kaplan, M.; Renaud, F. G.; Lüchters, G. (2009): Vulnerability assessment and protective effects of coastal vegetation during the 2004 Tsunami in Sri Lanka. In: Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci. vol. 9, no. 4, pp. 1479-1494.
