In the fall of 2013, the Modeling Regime Shifts in the Logone (MORSL) team was eager to continue their multi-year human and natural system research on the Logone Floodplain in the Far North Region of Cameroon. However, growing regional unrest spilling over from neighboring Nigeria prevented the team from traveling to their field site to collect data. To this day, the team is still unable to visit the system they are studying. Sui Phang will discuss how the team sought to overcome this major research obstacle by capitalizing on the opportunities for collaborating and cooperating with local fishers, researchers, and NGOs. Phang’s research focuses on the logistical challenge of the Logone Floodplain field work and interdisciplinary challenges due to linguistic and cultural divides between the US and Cameroon. Still, Phang’s team persevered and took steps to overcome challenges by developing fisher sampling teams, training, and modeling data.
