Louisiana State University is leveraging its expertise to improve coastal and environmental conditions in communities around the world. Experts are working to identify how small, coastal villages in the East African nation of Tanzania get caught in poverty traps, or mechanisms that cause poverty to persist in low-income communities. They are evaluating 13 different villages across the Pangani and Rufiji districts of Tanzania and analyzing the local mangrove ecosystems, including how humans influence and interact with these ecosystems.