People Managing Forests

How do we extend the 'conservation ethic' to include the cultural links between local populations and their physical environments? Can considerations of human capital be incorporated into the definition and measurement of sustainability in managed forests? Can forests be managed in a manner that fulfills traditional goals for ecological integrity while also addressing the well-being of its human residents? In this groundbreaking work, an international team of investigators apply a diverse range of social science methods to focus on the interests of the stakeholders living in the most intimate proximity to managed forests. Using examples from North America, Asia, Africa, and Latin America, they explore the overlapping systems that characterize the management of tropical forests. People Managing Forestsbuilds on criteria and indicators first tested by the editors and their colleagues in the mid-1990s. The researchers address topics such as intergenerational access to resources, gender relations and forest utilization, and equity in both forest-rich and forest-poor contexts. A copublication of Resources for the Future (RFF) and the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR).

Mary Ann Brocklesby is a lecturer in development studies at the University of Wales, Swansea. Katrina Brown is senior lecturer in natural resources and development at the University of East Anglia and senior research fellow at the Centre for Social and Economic Research on the Global Environment. Yvonne Byron, a geographer, is an editor for Lonely Planet Publications in Australia. Carol J. Pierce Colfer, an anthropologist, is team leader of the CIFOR program on Local People, Devolution, and Adaptive Collaborative Management of Forests. Rona A. Dennis is an expert in remote sensing and geographical information systems. Norbert Gami is an anthropologist with extensive experience in Central Africa. Mario Gunter recently completed his doctoral degree at the Geography Department of the University of Heidelberg, Germany. Emily Harwell, a social ecologist, is a doctoral candidate at the School of Forestry and Environmental Studies of Yale University. Sandrine Lapuyade, a socioeconomist with a focus on natural resource management Cynthia L. McDougall is a social science research fellow at CIFOR in Indonesia Robert Nasi, a silviculturist with strong ecological leanings, is the team leader of CIFOR's biodiversity program. Noemi Miyasaka Porro is a doctoral candidate at the Department of Anthropology of the University of Florida. Roberto Porro is a doctoral candidate at the Department of Anthropology of the University of Florida. Ravi Prabhu, a tropical forester, was leader of CIFOR's project, Assessing Sustainable Forest Management: Testing Criteria and Indicators Atie Puntodewo works at CIFOR, where she supports research relating to mapping. Diane Russell, an anthropologist, works for the U.S. Agency for International Development Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and for the Central African Regional Program for the Environment. Agus Salim is a statistician at CIFOR and is continuing his graduate studies in statistics at University College Cork, Ireland. Ismayadi Samsoedin is a forester at FORDA, Indonesia's Forestry Research Agency in Bogor. Mustofa Agung Sardjono is a faculty member at Universitas Mulawarman (UnMul) in Samarinda, East Kalimantan, Indonesia Joseph A. Tainter is project leader of Cultural Heritage Research in the U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station. Nicodeme Tchamou, a botanist, heads the focal-point office of the Central African Regional Program for the Environment (CARPE) Bertin Tchikangwa, a sociologist, works in southeast Cameroon as community conservation officer with the World Wide Fund for Nature. Anne Marie Tiani, an ecologist and botanist, serves as an advisor to CAPED, a national nongovernmental organization recently created in Mbalmayo, Cameroon Reed L. Wadley, an anthropologist, is a research fellow at the International Institute for Asian Studies, Leiden, The Netherlands Joseph Woelfel is a professor of communication at the State University of New York, Buffalo Eva (Lini) Wollenberg is a community-based management specialist at CIFOR.