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Past News and Events

• USAID-funded PEN project

  USAID, through the BASIS AMA CRSP programme, will support a four year PEN related project entitled “Natural Capital and Poverty Reduction” with USD 600 000. The activities centre on strengthening host-country capacity for policy analysis and deriving policy lessons regarding two topics: (i) the role of natural insurance among the rural poor, including the degree to which environmental income serves as a safety net; and (ii) the potential for poor rural households to use environmental income to accumulate physical and human capital, and move out of poverty.

  The project will focus on two countries, Malawi and Uganda, and strongly involves the two PEN partners in those countries (Charles Jumbe and Pam Jagger), but will also include additional and complementary data collection. The principal investigators of the project are: project coordinator Gerald Shively (Purdue University), Arild Angelsen (CIFOR and Norwegian University of Life Science), Monica Fisher (Oregon State University), Charles Jumbe (University of Malawi, Bunda College), and Dick Sserunkuuma (Makerere University).

• Pam Jagger, Indiana University, US: Negotiating Livelihoods and Sustainability after Uganda's Forest Sector Governance Reform.

  This has been an exciting year to work on forestry related issues in Uganda – controversy over the sale of one quarter of a biodiverse forest reserve to large scale sugar producers, and the upcoming Commonwealth Heads of State Meeting which has led to a massive construction boom has everyone talking about trees! My research has examined the case of a major forest sector decentralization reform undertaken by the Ugandan government in 2003 which changed the ownership and management of 85% of Uganda's forests. more

• A Tribute to Vanessa Annabel Shäffer Sequeira (1970-2006)

  The PEN family is shocked and saddened by the brutal death of one of its researchers, Vanessa Sequeira. Vanessa’s passing marks not only the savage, untimely end of a wonderful person with so much to live for. It also marks the loss of a scientist dedicated to humanity and the environment, and passionate about improving the lives of the rural poor through her forestry research. more

• PEN workshop in Brisbane, August 2005

  The second PEN workshop was held from the 15^th to 18^th August 2005 in Brisbane, Australia immediately after the World Congress of the International Union of Forest Research Organizations (IUFRO). An exciting group of 20 PhD students and 9 resource persons attended the 4 day workshop. Unfortunately three of the invited PhD students did not make it due to visa problems. more

• Workshop 21 - 23 September 2004

  The major kick-off event was the workshop held at CIFOR HQ in Bogor, Indonesia, 21 – 23 September 2004, with 28 participants, including 18 PhD students/young researchers that plan to do fieldwork in the near future.

  The workshop agenda included:
   

  • A broad overview of PEN and the forest-poverty complex: Key research questions, state of the art, and theoretical approaches.

  • Variables in the common data set.

  • The modus operandi of PEN: Organization of PEN, activities, contracts, etc.

  • Fieldwork methodologies: sampling, data collection, questionnaire design

  • Definitions and methodologies for data analysis.

  The outcome of the workshop will be reflected in the research tools currently under development.