Reem Hajjar

She/Her/Hers

Associate Professor, Natural Resources and the Environment Section

Reem Hajjar Associate Professor Natural Resources and the Environment

About

I am an interdisciplinary conservation social scientist and lead the FoLIAGe (Forests, Livelihoods, Institutions and Governance) Research Group. Much of my work uses an environmental justice lens to understand how to make forest governance processes more just and effective, and examines how such processes shape forest landscapes and related livelihoods. My research focuses on tropical regions of Latin America, West Africa, and Southeast Asia, as well as the Pacific Northwest of the United States.

I was hired in DNRE as part of CALS' transdisciplinary moonshot on Environmental Justice, and am a member of the graduate field in Natural Resources.

Education

Ph.D. (Forestry) University of British Columbia

M.A. (Conservation Biology) Columbia University

B.Sc. (Biology) McGill University

Recent Research

I'm particularly interested in local and community-based institutions for land and forest management, promises and perils of forest-based climate solutions, and sustainability and justice in social-ecological systems.

Current projects include research on: reforestation governance in the Ngabe-Bugle Comarca, Panama; community forestry dynamics and impacts on forests and livelihoods in Cambodia, Thailand, and Vietnam; and community forests as innovative governance models for rural prosperity in the United States.

For more details and a list of recent publications, see our FoLIAGe website.

Contact Information

116 Fernow Hall
Ithaca, NY 14853

rfh73 [at] cornell.edu

- FoLIAGe

Reem in the news

illustration of a glass earth on a forest floor.

News

April 28, 2026

Cornell Atkinson announces $1.24M in joint EDF grants

The Cornell Atkinson Center for Sustainability and Environmental Defense Fund will distribute $1.24 million to 12 projects co-led by Cornell and EDF scientists for research addressing several sustainability topics.

Cornell Atkinson
Ashley School of Global Development and the Environment
Natural Resources and the Environment Section