Rafael Lembi - Publications

Peer-reviewed publications

You can find a full list of publications in my Google Scholar profile. Here in my website, I present my scholarly work as it relates to my different areas of expertise

You will see that my work spans diverse topics, geographies and systems, while being united by a common theme of seeking to understand the process of transformations and transitions

Since some of the work speaks to more than one area of expertise, you will see some repetition across the categories below

Design, facilitation and evaluation of transdisciplinary processes of knowledge co-production

Lembi, Rafael, Maria Claudia Lopez, Karina Ninni Ramos, Igor Cavallini Johansen, Lázaro João Santana da Silva, Manoel Roberval Pimentel Santos, Gabriel Yúri Campos Lacerda, Gisele Souza Neuls, and Emilio Moran. 2025. “Towards Energy Justice and Energy Sovereignty: Participatory Co-Design of off-Grid Systems in the Brazilian Amazon.” Energy Research & Social Science 119 (January): 103858. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.erss.2024.103858.

Lembi, Rafael, Chelsea Wentworth, and Jennifer Hodbod. 2024. “Recipe for a Scenario: Moving from Vision to Actionable Pathways towards Sustainable Futures.” Progress in Environmental Geography 3 (2): 89–114. https://doi.org/10.1177/27539687241253616.

Wentworth, Chelsea, Mariana Torres Arroyo, Rafael Cavalcanti Lembi, Beth J Feingold, Darcy Freedman, Steven Gray, Jennider Hodbod, Becca B.R. Jablonski, Kathryn M. Janda-Thomte, Pablo Lemoine, Aida Nielsen, Xiaobo Xue Romeiko, Deborah Salvo, Laura Schmitt Olabisi, Alexandra E. van den Berg, and Owusua Yamoah. 2024. “Navigating Community Engagement in Participatory Modeling of Food Systems.” Environmental Science & Policy 152 (February): 103645. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envsci.2023.103645.

Moran, Emilio F., Maria Claudia Lopez, Rachel Mourão, Erik Brown, Aaron M. McCright, Judith Walgren, Ana Paula Bortoleto, Adam Mayer, Igor Cavallini Johansen, Karina Ninni Ramos, Laura Castro-Diaz, Maria Alejandra Garcia, Rafael Cavalcanti Lembi, and Norbert Mueller. 2022. “Advancing Convergence Research: Renewable Energy Solutions for off-Grid Communities.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) 119 (49): 1–12. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2207754119.

Wentworth, Chelsea, Rafael Lembi, Amarachi Wachuku, Miles McNall, Jennifer Hodbod, Kelly McClelland, Samantha Farah, Lottie Ferguson, Robert E. Brown, Damon Ross. “Sustaining Scenarios: Researcher-practitioner reflections on extending research beyond project boundaries.” Under review in Sustainability Science.

Khuriyeh, Victor Campos, Laura Barbon de Abreu, Lívia Ribeiro Cruz, Rafael Lembi. “Transdisciplinaridade desde a raiz: Desafios e estratégias para formar pesquisadores para a transformação socioecológica no Brasil.” Minor reviews for publication in book “Investigación transdisciplinaria en sistemas socioecológicos: transformaciones desde la raíz."

Futures-thinking, visioning and participatory scenario planning

Borja, Danilo, Jan Daněk, Julia C. Assis, Antonella Gorosábel, Carolyn Lundquist, Isabel Rosa, Fabio Rubio Scarano, Nino Tavares Amazonas, Silas C. Principe, Rob Alkemade, Adnan Arshad, Sandra Benavides-Gordillo, Rafael Cavalcanti Lembi, Tássia Rayane Ferreira Chagas, Diana Isabel Clavijo Rojas, Lara Cornejo-Denman, Viviane Dib, Simon Ferrier, Edberto Moura Lima, Luis Filipe Lopes, Matheus Camargo Silva Mancini, Juan Andrés Martínez Lanfranco, Wladimir Moya, Julia Niemeyer, Unai Pascual, Alice Ramos de Moraes, Mercy Funke Salami, Carla Rivera Rebella, Fábio H. C. Sanches, Priyanka Sarkar, Juliana Siqueira-Gay, Raísa Romênia Silva Vieira, Catalina Zuluaga Rodríguez, Carlos Alfredo Joly, and Rafael C. Borges. 2025. “Rethinking Scenario Building for Sustainable Futures: Mobilizing Conscientização, Social Learning and Knowledge Co-Production.” Ecosystems and People 21 (1): 2507247. https://doi.org/10.1080/26395916.2025.2507247.

Lembi, Rafael, Chelsea Wentworth, and Jennifer Hodbod. 2024. “Recipe for a Scenario: Moving from Vision to Actionable Pathways towards Sustainable Futures.” Progress in Environmental Geography 3 (2): 89–114. https://doi.org/10.1177/27539687241253616.

Lembi, Rafael, Alice Ramos De Moraes, and Cristiana Simão Seixas. 2024. “Assessing Nature’s Contributions to People in a Peri-Urban Protected Area, Southeast Brazil: Integrating Feedback Loops and Participatory Scenario Planning.” Ecosystems and People 20 (1): 2377636. https://doi.org/10.1080/26395916.2024.2377636.

Lembi, Rafael Cavalcanti, Cecilia Cronemberger, Caroline Picharillo, Sheina Koffler, Pedro H. Albuquerque Sena, Jéssica Francine Felappi, Alice Ramos de Moraes, Adnan Arshad, Jessie Pereira dos Santos, and Andressa Vianna Mansur. 2020. “Urban Expansion in the Atlantic Forest: Applying the Nature Futures Framework to Develop a Conceptual Model and Future Scenarios.” Biota Neotropica 20 (suppl 1): 1–13. https://doi.org/10.1590/1676-0611-bn-2019-0904.

Justice, sovereignty and decolonizing energy transitions

Lembi, Rafael, Maria Claudia Lopez, Karina Ninni Ramos, Igor Cavallini Johansen, Lázaro João Santana da Silva, Manoel Roberval Pimentel Santos, Gabriel Yúri Campos Lacerda, Gisele Souza Neuls, and Emilio Moran. 2025. “Towards Energy Justice and Energy Sovereignty: Participatory Co-Design of off-Grid Systems in the Brazilian Amazon.” Energy Research & Social Science 119 (January): 103858. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.erss.2024.103858.

Lembi, Rafael, Vinicius Oliveira da Silva, Traci Romine, Priscila Morgon Arruda, Ciro Campos, Rodolfo Dourado Gomes Maia, Alessandra Mathyas, Ilan Zugman, Joaquim Belo, Ivanildo Brilhante, Núbia Cristina Santana de Souza, Avanilson Ijoraru Dias Aires Karajá, Jakeline Xavier, Joilson Costa, Amanda Teles Marques, Aylla Monteiro de Oliveira, Mayara dos Santos Mendes, Lígia Amoroso Galbiati, Fabio Galdino, Caetano Scannavino, Eduardo Avila, Graziella Albuquerque, and Luciana Ferreira da Silva. “Energy & Communities Network: an alliance for full access to energy in the Brazilian Amazon.” In Let Communities Lead: Community Knowledge for Local Energy Transitions, edited by Saurabh Biswas, Davi E. François, Clark Miller, Mary Jane Parmentier, Witold-Roger Poganietz, p. 57 – 75. Center for Energy and Society, Arizona State University, 2024. https://letcommunitieslead.wordpress.com/2024-report/

Lembi, Rafael Cavalcanti, Vivian Battani, Ana María Flores Gutiérrez, Juliana de Oliveira Vicentini, Carolina de Albuquerque, Ana Carla Rodrigues, André Giles, and José Moisés de Oliveira Silva. “Inclusão, acesso e permanência de estudantes indígenas na universidade: reflexões sobre potenciais aprimoramentos para a Universidade do Estado do Amazonas.” In Diálogos Amazônicos: Contribuições para o Debate Sobre Sustentabilidade e Inclusão, edited by Carlos Alfredo Joly, Alice Ramos de Moraes, Érica Speglich, Gabriela Brasci Berro, Simone Aparecida Vieira, p. 139 – 167. RiMA Editora, 2023. https://doi.org/10.55333/rima-978-65-84811-39-3. (Translated to English and Spanish.)

Moran, Emilio F., Maria Claudia Lopez, Rachel Mourão, Erik Brown, Aaron M. McCright, Judith Walgren, Ana Paula Bortoleto, Adam Mayer, Igor Cavallini Johansen, Karina Ninni Ramos, Laura Castro-Diaz, Maria Alejandra Garcia, Rafael Cavalcanti Lembi, and Norbert Mueller. 2022. “Advancing Convergence Research: Renewable Energy Solutions for off-Grid Communities.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) 119 (49): 1–12. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2207754119.

Social-ecological systems, resilience and transformations

De Vos, Alta, Allyson Quinlan, Reinette Biggs, Elena M. Bennett, Berta Martín-López, Albert V. Norström, Garry D. Peterson, Michael Schoon, Craig R. Allen, Erik Andersson, Julia Baird, Marta Berbés-Blázquez, Fikret Berkes, Rafael Calderon-Contreras, Stephen R. Carpenter, Antonio J. Castro, Graeme S. Cumming, Marianne Falardeau, W. Liebrecht Fick, Carl Folke, Elson Ian Nyl E. Galang, Stefan Gelcich, Line J. Gordon, Nancy B. Grimm, Jacqueline Hamilton, Jennifer Hodbod, Chinwe Ifejika Speranza, Larissa Koch, Aleksandra Kosanic, Rafael Lembi, Bruno Locatelli, Katja Malmborg, Amanda Manyani, Morgan Mathisonslee, Anahi Ocampo-Melgar, Kinga Psiuk, Cibele Queiroz, Maraja Riechers, Lisen Schultz, Odirilwe Selomane, Kate Sherren, Marja Spierenburg, Micaela Trimble, Francis Turkelboom, and Caroline Wallington. 2025. “Welcome Home! Introducing SocSES: A Society for Inclusive and Impactful Social-Ecological Research.” Ecology and Society 30 (2): art32. https://doi.org/10.5751/ES-16164-300232.

Graucob, Clara, Katia Pilar Carranza Bernal, Jennifer Hodbod, Rafael Lembi, Emma Spett, Emily Sutherland-Rowen, Allyson Quinlan, Jonathan Vivas. “Assessing Assessments: How resilience assessment tools map onto the 7 Principles of Resilience.” R&R in Ecology and Society.

Governance of biodiversity and nature's contributions to people

Lembi, Rafael, Alice Ramos De Moraes, and Cristiana Simão Seixas. 2024. “Assessing Nature’s Contributions to People in a Peri-Urban Protected Area, Southeast Brazil: Integrating Feedback Loops and Participatory Scenario Planning.” Ecosystems and People 20 (1): 2377636. https://doi.org/10.1080/26395916.2024.2377636.

Lembi, Rafael Cavalcanti, Leandra Regina Gonçalves, and Cristiana Simão Seixas. 2022. “Panorama Dos Projetos de Turismo Em Unidades de Conservação Na Mata Atlântica.” 15 (1): 45–63. https://doi.org/10.34024/rbecotur.2022.v15.11815.

Lembi, Rafael Cavalcanti, Cecilia Cronemberger, Caroline Picharillo, Sheina Koffler, Pedro H. Albuquerque Sena, Jéssica Francine Felappi, Alice Ramos de Moraes, Adnan Arshad, Jessie Pereira dos Santos, and Andressa Vianna Mansur. 2020. “Urban Expansion in the Atlantic Forest: Applying the Nature Futures Framework to Develop a Conceptual Model and Future Scenarios.” Biota Neotropica 20 (suppl 1): 1–13. https://doi.org/10.1590/1676-0611-bn-2019-0904.