Since the early 1990s an increasing number of governments at the local, regional or provincial levels have been taking on the role of managing national forests - an area that was once felt better left in the hands of central governments.
In at least 60 developing countries, forest management responsibilities now rest in one degree or another with mayors, town councils and local authorities.
CIFOR in collaboration with the International Foundation for Science (IFS) are pleased to announce the launch of the Poverty Environment Network (PEN). The network will focus on the role of tropical forests and forest resources in poverty alleviation. Forests are important for millions of people as poverty safety nets, for supporting current consumption and, in some cases, by offering a pathway out of poverty. But we have only scattered and very limited quantitative information on these functions and are far from being able to provide any comparative and global syntheses. A key element of the network will be a common data bank, based on field data collected by the participants, mainly through household surveys on forest use.
According to the PEN Coordinator, Arild Angelsen a CIFOR Associate Scientist based at the Agricultural University of Norway, "The data will enable the first comprehensive global study on poverty and forests. By providing a realist assessment of the current situation, PEN's research will, on the one hand, temper some of the more unrealistic expectations held by some groups, and on the other hand, help overcome the neglect found in most national poverty strategies." The network will provide guidelines and advice on research methodologies, facilitate exchange of information and experiences among participants, host workshops on methodologies and syntheses of results, and organize the compiling and publishing of results. In addition to the basic data collected, it is anticipated a great variety of topics will be addressed under the forest-poverty umbrella.
PEN is targeted at doctoral students and young researchers intending to do field research over the next two years. Each participant submitting a data set from his or her study to the common data bank will be paid US$2,000 for undertaking the extra effort needed to collect the data. The International Foundation for Science (IFS) will provide a minimum of 10 grants of US$12,000 to undertake the field studies. The first workshop, focusing on data issues and research methodologies, will be held at CIFOR HQ in Bogor, Indonesia 21 - 23 September 2004.
"CIFOR is extremely proud to be working with the International Foundation for Science in the newly launched Poverty Environment Network. By Pledging a minimum of US$120 000 for research grants, IFS is clearly demonstrating its commitment to scientific research and the role it plays in identifying the inter-relationships between forests and poverty reduction", CIFOR's Director of Forests and Livelihoods, Bruce Campbell said.
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Applying for a PEN research grant
IFS is an NGO that supports developing country scientists to conduct high quality research on the management, use, and conservation of biological resources and their environment in the developing world. IFS believes the interests of both science and development are best served by promoting and nurturing the research efforts of young science graduates. Since 1974, IFS has provided support to over 3,200 scientists in 100 developing countries. Through the Poverty Environment Network (PEN), IFS will be offering grants to researchers according to the following conditions:
- The researchers must meet the standard IFS eligibility criteria.
- Following the workshop, researchers who wish to be considered for a grant must submit a research proposal to IFS on a standard IFS application form.
- The research proposals must be of high quality and be recommended for support by one of IFS' independent Scientific Advisory Committees.
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For further information about the network and how to join it, contact: cifor-pen@cgiar.org