Browsing by Author "Prabhu, Ravi"

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Assessing the Performance of Natural Resource Systems
(2002) Campbell, Bruce; Sayer, Jeffrey A.; Frost, Peter; Vermeulen, Sonja; Ruiz-Pérez, Manuel; Cunningham, Anthony; Prabhu, Ravi
"Assessing the performance of management is central to natural resource management, in terms of improving the efficiency of interventions in an adaptive-learning cycle. This is not simple, given that such systems generally have multiple scales of interaction and response; high frequency of nonlinearity, uncertainty, and time lags; multiple stakeholders with contrasting objectives; and a high degree of context specificity. The importance of bounding the problem and preparing a conceptual model of the system is highlighted. We suggest that the capital assets approach to livelihoods may be an appropriate organizing principle for the selection of indicators of system performance. In this approach, five capital assets are recognized: physical, financial, social, natural, and human. A number of principles can be derived for each capital asset; indicators for assessing system performance should cover all of the principles. To cater for multiple stakeholders, participatory selection of indicators is appropriate, although when cross-site comparability is required, some generic indicators are suitable. Because of the high degree of context specificity of natural resource management systems, a typology of landscapes or resource management domains may be useful to allow extrapolation to broader systems. The problems of nonlinearities, uncertainty, and time lags in natural resource management systems suggest that systems modeling is crucial for performance assessment, in terms of deriving 'what would have happened anyway' scenarios for comparison to the measured trajectory of systems. Given that a number of indicators are necessary for assessing performance, the question becomes whether these can be combined to give an integrative assessment. We explore five possible approaches: (1) simple additive index, as used for the Human Development Index; (2) derived variables (e.g., principal components) as the indices of performance; (3) two-dimensional plots of indicators and cases emerging from multivariate techniques used to visualize change; (4) graphical representation of the five capital assets using radar diagrams; and (5) canonical correlation analysis to explore indicators at two different scales."
Contextualizing Common Property Systems: Action Research Insights on Forging Effective Links between Forest Commons and Meso Layer Governance
(2006) Paudel, Naya Sharma; Banjade, Mani Ram; Ojha, Hemant R.; McDougall, Cynthia; Prabhu, Ravi
"The literature on common property resources is heavily focused on understanding how users of the commons interact with each other regarding production and appropriation of these resources. There is, however, relatively little attention paid to understanding how meso level governance - i.e., that layer between local level and national (policy) level - interacts with users of the commons in shaping the social and environmental outcomes of commons management. The meso level consists of actors, institutions and processes which interact with each other and with users of commons, interpret and enforce policies and regulations, and can also reinterpret or misinterpret policies according to their own interests and agendas with beneficial or deleterious effects on the actors and the commons. We contend that the dynamic link between meso level governance and the commons is not sufficiently appreciated and poorly understood. Taking Nepal's community forestry as a case study, this paper seeks to explore the dynamic links between meso level processes and the commons. Based on the learning and reflections from an 'adaptive collaborative management' research project implemented in five districts of Nepal over the past two years, the paper seeks to: a) develop a preliminary conceptual framework for understanding meso spheres of governance in relation to local level commons; b) describe the nature of linkages between the meso level and community forestry and their influences on the condition of the commons and the livelihoods of forest users; and, c) share action research insights on how mesocommons linkages can be improved."
Criteria and Indicators for Sustainable Forest Management: New Findings from CIFOR's Forest Management Unit Level Research
(1998) Prabhu, Ravi; Colfer, Carol J. Pierce; Shepherd, Gill
"This paper traces the growing interest in the development of Criteria and Indicators for sustainable forest management since the declaration of the Forest Principles at the Rio Conference in 1992. Several processes are underway in different regions of the world to define sets of criteria and indicators that can be used to assess the social, economic and ecological sustainability of forest management. Some have focused more at national level, while others have emphasised information needs at the forest management unit level. In an attempt to produce a generic 'master set,' the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR) has carried out several tests to compare the different sets of criteria and indicators currently in existence. At the forest level, ecological criteria have been found much easier to apply than social ones as the latter often require an in-depth understanding of areas beyond the immediate boundaries of the forest management unit. In addition to social issues, other areas that still need further work include biodiversity, the development of criteria and indicators for plantations, and a means of linking information from the local to the national level. In an attempt to help people in different areas adapt the generic hierarchy of criteria and indicators to their own conditions, CIFOR is developing a computer programme, CIMAT, which allows for the addition of local knowledge and an iterative development of locally-specific criteria and indicators. In spite of the work still needed, the importance of defining a comprehensive but practical set of criteria and indicators lies in the fact that such a measurable and comparable methodology would build public confidence on the issue of forest sustainability."
Guidelines for Developing, Testing and Selecting Criteria and Indicators for Sustainable Forest Management
(1999) Prabhu, Ravi; Colfer, Carol J. Pierce; Dudley, Richard G.
"The principal aim of C&I field testing is to identify C&I that are objective, cost-effective and relevant to the sustainable management of forests. The focus of the testing procedure should be to identify the smallest number of C&I needed to reliably assess forest management in a cost effective manner."
Inter-generational Access to Resources: Developing Criteria and Indicators
(1997) Colfer, Carol J. Pierce; Wadley, Reed L.; Harwell, Emily; Prabhu, Ravi
"This paper makes use of data from a methodological pre-test conducted in and around Danau Sentarum Wildlife Reserve in West Kalimantan, Indonesia. Its purpose was to contribute to the development of principles, criteria and indicators for sustainable forest management (SFM). The particular topic investigated here is inter-generational access to resources, an issue widely deemed important--and very difficult to assess--in sustainable forest management. The methods pre-tested are described, and earlier versions of the principles, criteria and indicators are re-evaluated, re-ordered and scored in a dual attempt: 1)to develop simple, inexpensive and reliable assessment methods; and 2)to contribute to our understanding of the causal links between inter-generational access to resources and sustainable forest management."
Modelling Interactions amongst People and Forest Resources at the Landscape Scale
(2003) Vanclay, Jerome K.; Sinclair, Fergus L.; Prabhu, Ravi
"FLORES, the Forest Land Oriented Resource Envisioning System, is a framework to facilitate quantitative modelling of ecological, economic and social issues at the landscape scale. This issue of Small-scale Forest Economics, Management and Policy describes the evolution of FLORES from a concept to a series of models calibrated for diverse locations, and documents the lessons learned."
Principles, Criteria and Indicators: Applying Ockham's Razor to the People-Forestry Link
(1995) Colfer, Carol J. Pierce; Prabhu, Ravi; Wollenberg, Eva
"This concept paper addresses those elements in the people-forest interface which we perceive as critical to sustainable forest management, based on our own training and experience, as well as two field tests of the conceptual framework (in Kalimantan and Cote d'Ivoire). Initially, we define our use of important terms, like sustainability, well being/needs, and people; and make clear some of our assumptions. We briefly allude to four pertinent conceptual and policy issues, including the role of people in relation to the forest; the significance of maintaining cultural diversity; the relationships among cultural integrity, culture change, and stakeholder participation; and finally, policy issues pertaining to land use, population, and people's participation. The body of the paper discusses two principles, each with three associated criteria. An appendix lists principles, criteria, indicators and verifiers found useful in our field tests. We conclude briefly by describing future research plans, focused on refining our definitions of stakeholders, testing the importance of intergenerational access to resources and people's participation in sustainable forest management, and testing the applicability of such criteria and indicators for community forestry contexts."
Who Counts Most? Assessing Human Well-Being in Sustainable Forest Management.
(1999) Colfer, Carol J. Pierce; Prabhu, Ravi; Gunter, Mario; McDougall, Cynthia; Miyasaka Porro, Noemi; Porro, Roberto
"In this paper, we present a tool, the ‘Who Counts Matrix’, for differentiating ‘forest actors’, or people whose well-being and forest management are intimately intertwined, from other stakeholders. We argue for focusing formal attention on forest actors in efforts to develop sustainable forest management. We suggest seven dimensions by which forest actors can be differentiated from other stakeholders, and a simple scoring technique for use by formal managers in determining whose well-being must form an integral part of sustainable forest management in a given locale. Building on the work carried out by the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR) on criteria and indicators, we present three illustrative sets of stakeholders, from Indonesia, Côte d’Ivoire and the United States, and Who Counts Matrices from seven trials, in an appendix."