Introduction

LEAH BREMERAssociate Specialist

I view social and environmental challenges and solutions as intricately inter-connected.

LEAH BREMERAssociate Specialist

Leah Bremer
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I view social and environmental challenges and solutions as intricately inter-connected.

Dr. Bremer’s background as a geographer and conservation scientist enables her to view social and environmental challenges from a unique perspective and to propose inter-connected solutions to water and watershed policy and management. She is able to focus on interdisciplinary, applied, and problem-driven research with collaborative teams of researchers, community groups, agencies, non-profits, and others to achieve informed, effective, and equitable decision making. Through her joint appointment with WRRC and UHERO, Leah is able to channel her considerable experience in a variety of research projects. Leah also enjoys teaching as a way to connect with students and learn from their enthusiasm and perspectives on environmental and social challenges. 

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EDUCATION 

  • BA, Psychology, Northwestern University 
  • MS, Conservation Biology, Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand-Macquarie University, Australia 
  • PhD, Geography, University of California at Santa Barbara – San Diego State University 

INTERESTS 

  • Ecosystem services and social-ecological systems 
  • Watershed management and conservation 
  • Joint social and ecological outcomes of land-use and climate change 
  • Water resources 

CURRENT PROJECTS 

  • Linking watershed and groundwater management to groundwater dependent ecosystems and their linked ecological, cultural, and socio-economic values 
  • Enhancing social-ecological resilience and ecosystem services through restoration of coastal agroforestry systems 
  • Land-based solutions: Activating landscapes for climate change mitigation and soil health 

 

 

RESEARCH PROJECTS

Groundwater Sustainability: A Review of the Interactions Between Science and Policy

Multi-process modeling, uncertainty analysis, and participation are the main components of an effective scientific evaluation of groundwater sustainability policy with the sphere number reflecting the increasing degree of integration (from Elshall et al. 2020).
This study provides a systematic review of the concept of groundwater sustainability, and situates this concept within the calls from the hydrologic literature for more participatory and integrated approaches to water security

Incorporating Historical Spring Discharge Protection Into Sustainable Groundwater Management: A Case Study From Pearl Harbor Aquifer, Hawai‘i

Groundwater simulation optimization results with spring discharge constrained at (a) 80%, (b) 60%, (c) 40% of pre-industrial discharge, and (d) estimated spring discharge-sustainable yield tradeoff curve.
This research provides decision-makers in Hawai‘i with information regarding the trade-off between groundwater pumping and spring discharge, which is connected to multiple benefits, including historical and cultural values in line with codified state beneficial use protections.

Linking Watershed and Groundwater Management to Groundwater Dependent Ecosystems and Their Linked Ecological, Cultural, and Socio-Economic Values

Veronica Gibson (Botany PhD student) is studying the linked social and ecological values of GDEs through multiple methods, including interviews with resource managers.
We develop future scenarios of cesspool (wastewater) management, forest conservation, groundwater pumping, and climate change to assess how coastal groundwater quality and quantity may change and how this may affect culturally and ecologically valuable groundwater dependent ecosystems along the coast of the Keauhou aquifer.

Enhancing Social-Ecological Resilience and Ecosystem Services Through Restoration of Coastal Agroforestry Systems

Agroforestry systems have the capacity to support resilient coastal communities through providing food, conserving native biodiversity, and supporting multiple ecosystem services, and represent growing priorities for conservation initiatives worldwide
Agroforestry systems have the capacity to support resilient coastal communities through providing food, conserving native biodiversity, and supporting multiple ecosystem services, and represent growing priorities for conservation initiatives worldwide

Synthesis of the Physical and Socio-Political Aspects of Hydrological Research in the Páramo

The objective of this project is to synthesize the current status of knowledge regarding the effects of land cover and climate change on the hydrological functioning and linked social and economic outcomes in high elevation Andean páramo grasslands from Perú to Venezuela.

Land-Based Solutions: Activating Landscapes for Climate Change Mitigation and Soil Health

How do we activate a soil research agenda that illuminates the linkages among soils, landscapes, and societal health and motivates protection and restoration of these diverse, productive systems?

On the Path to Carbon Neutrality: A Hawaiʻi Carbon Land Use Opportunity Assessment

To maximize landscape-scale sequestration rates, we will work with stakeholders and resource managers to develop a land-use classification map optimized for climate mitigation at the State of Hawai´i scale.

Collaborative Research With Kākoʻo Ōiwi, Heʻeia, Oʻahu: Restoring a Multi-Functional Agroforestry System

We are collaborating with a community-based organization, Kakoʻo ʻŌiwi, to restore and monitor a multi-functional agroforest using a participatory functional trait and biocultural approach.

Collaborative Research to Support Urban Agriculture in the Face of Change: The Case of Sumida Watercress Farm

This study focuses on a researcher-farmer collaboration in the highly urbanized Pearl Harbor area of Oʻahu aimed at understanding the historical and current challenges and opportunities facing a culturally and economically spring-dependent watercress farm.

Effects of Land Cover Futures and Watershed Protection on Sustainable Groundwater Management in Hawaiʻi

Stakeholder-defined future land cover scenarios based on a combination of varying degrees of forest protection and two urban development trajectories: a) Corridor development + high forest protection, b) Corridor development + targeted forest protection, c) Corridor development + no forest protection, d) sprawl development + high forest protection, e) sprawl development + targeted forest protection, f) sprawl development + no forest protection.
This research examines the effects of stakeholder-defined future watershed management and urban development land cover scenarios on groundwater recharge, sustainable yield, and groundwater replacement costs in the Pearl Harbor aquifer.