EBF initiative announces new grant recipients for systematic reviews

Following its call for proposals for new systematic maps and reviews, the Center for International Forestry Research’s (CIFOR) Evidence-Based Forestry Initiative is pleased to announce the selection of the following research teams based in Finland, Australia and the United States to receive grants of USD 35,000 each to undertake research on key forestry and landscapes issues.

Arttu Malkamäki, a PhD student in the Department of Forest Sciences at the University of Helsinki, will work with Markku Kanninen, a Seconded Principal Scientist at CIFOR, to conduct a review on the effects of industrial plantation forestry on poverty alleviation among communities in the tropics. According to Kanninen, “a methodologically sound assessment and comparison of the local effects of expanding plantation forestry is essential to inform plantation management and corporate sustainability practices in the context of recent initiatives to restore forests and degraded landscapes worldwide.”

Sigit Sasmito, a Masters’ student at Charles Darwin University, will collaborate with Daniel Murdiyarso, a Principal Scientist at CIFOR, to examine the impact of land use changes on carbon fluxes in coastal mangrove forests. This systematic review will thus contribute to a global evaluation of the role of mangrove forests in mitigating climate change, which has already seen site and regional-level research conducted under the Sustainable Wetlands Adaptation and Mitigation Program (SWAMP).

Maggie Holland, an Assistant Professor in the Department of Geography and Environmental Systems at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, will lead a review team that includes CIFOR Research Director Steven Lawry and CIFOR Scientist Amy Duchelle to investigate how indigeneity and tenure security influence socio-ecological conditions on community lands. Holland and her team state that “a more nuanced characterization of indigenous and non-indigenous ‘traditional’ communities will help isolate the role of indigeneity in contributing to effective local governance of resource use,” which in turn can help decision-makers translate global targets for community resource management into more context-specific and evidence-based strategies for collaboration with traditional communities.