The Department of Ecology and Natural Resource Management has joined CLTS
Ole HofstadManagement of natural resources obviously depends on who owns them. Therefore, land tenure is an important aspect of resource management and nature conservation. This is nothing new to scientists at the Department of Ecology and Natural Resource Management at UMB (INA), but it has taken time for the department to join the centre.
The Department of Ecology and Natural Resource Management has joined CLTS.
At UMB land tenure aspects of Norwegian management of natural resources like cropland, forests, mountains and water has traditionally been handled by the Department of Landscape Architecture and Spatial Planning. Similar issues related to the global south naturally belonged at Noragric.
Ole Hofstad, professor at the Department of Ecology and Natural Resource at UMB, is now member of the Core Team at CLTS.
Land tenure issues at INA
When the CLTS was established we at INA felt that our contribution to this field was rather limited. Later we have realized that it would be useful for our research and teaching to keep in close contact with people who are studying land tenure issues more closely. It may even happen that our insight into biological and economic aspects of resource management would be of interest to those who study institutions. We found that it was time to join the CLTS.
INA offers courses in tropical ecology, nature conservation, wildlife management, fisheries management, forestry, and nature based tourism. Land tenure plays an important role in many of these courses, but the distribution of user rights is often taken as a predetermined fact rather than a variable of management in itself.
The list of recent projects and publications at INA that are relevant to land tenure may not be very long, but a few examples could be mentioned:
Projects
Tron Eid is working with colleagues at SUA in Tanzania on a project named “Assessing the impact of forestland tenure changes on forest resources and rural livelihoods in Tanzania”. The project includes various studies in order to investigate and adopt effective remedial strategies on continuing forest depletion and degradation through sound forest management practices and good forest governance.
Fred Midtgaard is working with Severin Kalunga and Kassim Kulindwa on a Tanzanian project named “Prospects and Challenges of Certified Natural Forests in Adapting and Mitigating Climate Change”. Fred is engaged in other projects touching on land tenure issues in Tanzania as well.
Arezoo Soltani is working on a project named "Policies for sustainable forest management in Zagros, Iran”. She studies community based forest management versus family based forest management and their effects on livelihood strategies and development pathways, poverty and income distribution, economic forest dependency, and sustainable use of forest resources.
Articles
Mbwambo, L., Eid, T., Malimbwi, R. E., Zahabu, E., Kajembe, G. C. and Luoga, E. 2012. Impact of decentralised forest management on forest resource conditions in Tanzania. Forests, Trees and Livelihoods. Accepted.
Mpanda, M. M., Luoga, E. J., Kajembe, G.C. & Eid, T. 2011. Impact of forestland tenure changes on forest cover, stocking and tree species diversity in Amani Nature Reserve, Tanzania. Forests, Trees and Livelihoods 20(4):215-230.
Stensland, S. and S. Baardsen 2011. The effects of property and landowner characteristics on profit efficiency in salmon angling tourism in Norway. Journal of Sustainable Tourism, iFirst 2011:1-18.
Stensland, S. 2010. Fishing rights and supply of salmon angling tourism in mid-Norway. Scandinavian Journal of Hospitality and Tourism 10:207-230.Madoffe, S; Maganga, F.; Mtalo, E.; Midtgaard, F. & Bryceson, I. 2009. Biofuels and neocolonialism. Chemchemi 1:22-25.
Zahabu, E., Eid, T., Kajembe, G., Mbwambo, L., Mongo, C., Sangeda, A., Malimbwi, R., Katani, J., Kashaigili, J. and Luoga, E. 2009. Forestland tenure systems in Tanzania: an overview of policy changes in relation to forest management. INA fagrapport 14:1-24.
Hofstad, O. 2008. A theoretical analysis of illegal wood harvesting as predation – with two Ugandan illustrations. Scandinavian Forest Economics 42:441-52.
Namaalwa, J. and O. Hofstad. 2007. Tenure transformations and sustainable management of woodlands in Uganda. Forests, Trees and Livelihoods, 17(4):293-308.
Updated: 17.02.12
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