Irène Mestre, Researcher in geography

Irène Mestre holds a PhD in geography and works as a consultant for international organizations. She is interested in the human-nature interface in areas with low population density, and more specifically in the management of common goods. She investigated the impacts of community-based pasture management on the resilience of local communities of Kyrgyzstan. Her approach combined the concept of Community-Based Natural Resource Management with socio-ecological systems.For her PhD research, she is affiliated to the University Jean Moulin-Lyon 3 (CRGA - UMR 5600) and was supported by the the French Institute of Central Asian Studies and by the Centre for Development and Environment of the Bern University. She collaborated as well with the University of Central Asia (Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan) non-governmental and international organizations. She worked as well on conflicts over natural resources such as irrigation water and pastures in Kyrgyzstan and in transborder areas of Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan.

She is currently a postdoc at the Université du Québec en Outaouais at the Institute of Temperate Forest Sciences, where she investigates the network of protected areas and the potential role of the concept of ecosystem services. She explores the perspectives of the integration of the ecosystem services approach in the management of protected areas and the potential impacts on power relations among stakeholders.