The Group
The Forest Management and Development (ForDev) Group is dedicated to advancing the understanding of the links between Forests, Trees and Livelihoods in tropical landscapes. We conduct inter and transdisciplinary research that enables better integration between social, economic, ecological and political processes.
Our purpose
To promote better management of the forests and trees of tropical landscapes, by bringing to the policy makers plausible scenarios of biodiversity and fostering dialogue between stakeholders.
Our methods
We analyze the complex interactions between ecological processes, stakeholders’ strategies and public policies in tropical social and ecological systems (SES) in order to:
- better understand the processes of environmental change,
- explore alternative futures together with the stakeholders,
- embed our research in the decision making process.
We develop frameworks for collaboration between social and natural sciences, between stakeholders and researchers, using integrative approaches and modeling platforms as common ground to describe the world. These platforms, based on existing models such as CORMAS developed by CIRAD, are used to construct conceptual models of natural resource management with the stakeholders, and to explore alternative management scenarios.