Welcome to the FoLIAGe Research Group! We study the relationship between forests and livelihoods, and how various governance mechanisms and institutions, including policies, laws, norms, and markets, shape that relationship. With a strong commitment to environmental and social justice, a driving factor behind our research is figuring out how governance and decision-making processes around forests can be made more just, participatory, effective, and, where appropriate, driven from the bottom-up, so that they reflect realities on the ground, and the realities of often marginalized forest-reliant people.

Working around the world and employing both qualitative and quantitative methodologies, we aim to answer questions such as, how can forests be sustainably used as pathways to prosperity? How can community and local forestry contribute to this? What are the livelihood and landscape impacts of tenure and forest policy changes, and how can these changes result in more equitable outcomes? How do power dynamics shape decision-making processes and outcomes? How transferable are governance mechanisms from one context to another? What do just forest-based climate solutions look like, and in what contexts do they thrive?

Check out our research and publications pages!