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

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160

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f Fo

rest

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Forest Area (ha)

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Fore

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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