The International Forestry Resources and Institutions (IFRI) Network is a collective of research partners at 12 universities or non-governmental organization

Non-governmental organization

A non-governmental organization is a legally constituted organization created by natural or legal persons that operates independently from any government. The term originated from the United Nations , and is normally used to refer to organizations that do not form part of the government and are...

s in 11 countries around the world that focus on how institutions and governance arrangements shape forest use and management

Forest management

200px|thumb|right|[[Sustainable development|Sustainable]] forest management carried out by [[Complejo Forestal y Maderero Panguipulli|Complejo Panguipulli]] has contributed to the preservation of the forested landscape around [[Neltume]], a sawmill town in Chile...

 outcomes. Scholars and policy makers affiliated with IFRI are interested in understanding the role of formal and informal institutions in enhancing livelihoods and adaptive capacity of peoples, conserving biodiversity, and promoting greater sustainability in carbon sequestration. IFRI's goal is to carry out rigorous research that can help policy makers and forest users design and implement improved evidence-based forest policies. IFRI comprises partner collaborating research institutes in North America

North America

North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...

, Latin America

Latin America

Latin America is a region of the Americas where Romance languages  – particularly Spanish and Portuguese, and variably French – are primarily spoken. Latin America has an area of approximately 21,069,500 km² , almost 3.9% of the Earth's surface or 14.1% of its land surface area...

, Asia

Asia

Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.7% of the Earth's total surface area and with approximately 3.879 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population...

 and Africa

Africa

Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...

. IFRI utilizes the Institutional Analysis and Development (IAD) framework, created at the Workshop in Political Theory and Policy Analysis at Indiana University

Indiana University

Indiana University is a multi-campus public university system in the state of Indiana, United States. Indiana University has a combined student body of more than 100,000 students, including approximately 42,000 students enrolled at the Indiana University Bloomington campus and approximately 37,000...

 by Elinor Ostrom and her colleagues.

The IFRI research program was initiated in 1992 at Indiana University. It moved in 2006 to University of Michigan

University of Michigan

The University of Michigan is a public research university located in Ann Arbor, Michigan in the United States. It is the state's oldest university and the flagship campus of the University of Michigan...

 where it is currently housed at the School of Natural Resources and Environment and coordinated by Arun Agrawal.

Collaborating Resource Centers

In addition to Indiana University and the University of Michigan, the following institutions are partners in the program:

• Bolivia – Center for the Study of Economic and Social Reality (1993)
• Uganda – Makerere University
  Makerere University
  Makerere University , Uganda's largest and second-oldest higher institution of learning, , was first established as a technical school in 1922. In 1963 it became the University of East Africa, offering courses leading to general degrees from the University of London...
  
   (1993)
• Kenya – Kenya Forestry Research Institute (1997)
• Tanzania – Sokoine University of Agriculture
  Sokoine University of Agriculture
  Sokoine University of Agriculture is a university in Tanzania, specializing in agriculture.-Introduction:INTRODUCTION TO SOKOINE UNIVERSITY OF AGRICULTURE...
  
   (1998)
• Thailand – Asian Institute of Technology
  Asian Institute of Technology
  The Asian Institute of Technology is an international institution for higher education in engineering, advanced technologies, and management and planning...
  
   (1999)
• India – Institute for Research and Development, Nagpur (2000)
• Mexico – National Autonomous University of Mexico
  National Autonomous University of Mexico
  The Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México is a university in Mexico. UNAM was founded on 22 September 1910 by Justo Sierra as a liberal alternative to the Roman Catholic-sponsored Royal and Pontifical University of Mexico The Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM) (National Autonomous...
  
   (2000)
• Nepal – ForestAction (2001)
• Guatemala – Universidad del Valle de Guatemala
  Universidad del Valle de Guatemala
  The Universidad del Valle de Guatemala is a private, not-for-profit, secular university located in Guatemala City, Guatemala. It was founded in 1966 by a private foundation, which had previously overseen the American School of Guatemala...
  
   (2002)
• Colombia – Pontifical Xavierian University
  Pontifical Xavierian University
  The Pontificia Universidad Javeriana is a private higher education institution founded in 1623. It is one of the oldest, most traditional, and prestigious Colombian universities, directed by the Society of Jesus, with its main facilities in Bogotá and a second campus in Cali...
  
   and the Alexander von Humboldt Biological Resources Research Institute
  Alexander von Humboldt Biological Resources Research Institute
  The Alexander von Humboldt Biological Resources Research Institute , sometimes referred to simply as the Humbold Institute, is an independent non-regulatory research institute of the Executive Branch of the Government of Colombia charged with conducting scientific research on the biodiversity of...
  
  

Goals

Some of the goals of the IFRI network are to:

• determine how to change processes leading to deforestation
  Deforestation
  Deforestation is the removal of a forest or stand of trees where the land is thereafter converted to a nonforest use. Examples of deforestation include conversion of forestland to farms, ranches, or urban use....
  
  in many countries of the world;
• assess the nature of tradeoffs among forest conservation, livelihoods promotion, and carbon sequestration
• analyze the role of institutions and policies in promoting better forest outcomes

IFRI provides a way for people to collect, store, and analyze data over time about forests and the communities that use forests. It can be used to:

• conduct baseline studies;
• measure change over time in forest conditions and in local governance structures; and
• share information with pertinent and interested colleagues.

The IFRI is unique from other research programs and databases in that:

• it is composed of a network of Collaborating Research Centers (CRCs) that utilize a common research methodology and database that includes a diverse array of variables taken from the environmental and social sciences;
• the design of the IFRI research instruments is based on the Institutional Analysis and Development (IAD) framework and previous theoretical and empirical studies. The IAD framework, developed by colleagues at the Workshop in Political Theory and Policy Analysis at Indiana University, provides a unique way for researchers to transcend disciplinary boundaries;
• IFRI focuses and collects data on institutional, social, and ecological variables which can be stored in a single IFRI database, and analyzed to understand the inter-relationships among social and ecological processes and outcomes.

External links

• International Forestry Resources and Institutions at University of Michigan