The International Forestry Resource and Institutions research program (IFRI)
Ted Webb, National University of Singapore
What is IFRI? A long-term, interdisciplinary, international research network
Established in 1992; now coordinated by Arun Agrawal at University of Michigan
What is IFRI? A growing international database of cross-national,
time-series data on forests, the people using forest
resources, and institutions for managing resources
• How do alternative systems of governance and tenure affect social and ecological conditions?
• What conditions favor collective action for the provision of resource management?
• How do people respond to changing ecological and social conditions?
• How do diverse actors – user groups, local associations, governments, interact & jointly affect forest conditions?
IFRI’s Central Questions
Data required across space and
time
A
B
C
D
Sites (Users – Forests)
A
B
C
D
T I M E
S P
A C
E
Data collected at each site
Ca. 2000 data points on: • FOREST CONDITION
– Trees and shrubs – Forest extent and change over
time – Signs of illegal activities
• USERS AND GOVERNANCE
– Formal governance arrangement
– Organization of forest users – Activities of forest users COMMUNITY-LEVEL DATA
(not household)
IFRI Conceptual Model and relational database
ENTITY
ASSOCIATION
Data comparability is paramount
• Common data collection methods / forms
• Extensive joint training
• Multi-country teams whenever possible
• Repeat studies
• Extensive reporting to communities and relevant officials
Collaborating Research Centers
IFRI Master Database – Jan ’11
Visits per Site
Total Sites
1 161
2 54
3 23
4 2
Total Sites 346
**Planned interval between site revisits: 5 years**
Number of Site Visits by Country
Examples of what IFRI does best
• Examine forest governance evolution and change
• 1:1 User group : forest analysis, comparable over multiple sites and times
• Evaluate broad parameters of “forest condition”, “sustainability” and “outcomes”
What IFRI does not do
• Biodiversity monitoring aside from basic richness
• Single-species assessments
• Ecological research
• Economic valuation
• Landscape-level analysis
IFRI Forests: area distribution
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
140
160
Nu
mb
er o
f Fo
rest
s
Forest Area (ha)
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
Nu
mb
er
of
Fore
sts
Forest Area (ha)
Most sites have ≤ 30 forest plots (expensive)
Tree plots = 10m radius
Sapling plots = 3 m radius
30 tree plots = 0.94 ha
30 sapling plots = 848 m2
IFRI in the context of Sentinel Landscapes
• The outputs of a sentinel landscape can include: – descriptions of a state or process; – basic data collection (for surveillance); – understanding of a phenomenon, including causality; and – experimentation, especially to provide recommendations, suggest
interventions and assess their efficiency (e.g., adaptive management).
• Researchers at sentinel landscapes can:
– provide information or data to stakeholders for its further use; – analyze the information recorded; – use the results of the observation and/or analysis for dissemination or
for further intervention; and – assist decision making by providing indicators and predictive modeling
tools.
Lessons from IFRI • Go slow: Years of up-front efforts are necessary. • Governance
– Network leadership and collaborator commitment – Streamlined, decentralized structure – Local engagement and feedback necessary for long-term
collaboration – Start small and grow within means around a core method
• Data – Comparability – Balance needed between breadth and depth of data
collected. Most frequent collaborator comment about IFRI: “Too much data collected. But can you add…..?”
• Research has been question-driven – Locally relevant and globally informative / comparable
