Kathleen McAfee works on the relationship between ecology and social equity. She writes and teaches about economic globalization and international development, food systems, and the equitable sharing and sustainable use of natural resources. Her research on Selling Nature to Save It? analyzes the challenges of valuing and conserving biodiversity and distributing environmental benefits and burdens in a world-market economy.

Dr. McAfee’s current projects concern environmental services, resource rights, rural livelihoods, and the socioeconomic aspects of agriculture and genetic resources conservation in Mexico and elsewhere in the global South. Her recent publications address new biotechnologies, intellectual property rights to genes, living organisms, and knowledge, and related challenges for food security, trade policy, and governance.