PhD. research takes a central place in the research activities of the joint program. PhD. research is conducted along the strategic research themes of the program: (1) dynamics of land use change, and (2) co-management of natural resources. In 2004, 10 PhD. researchers carried out fieldwork in the framework of CVPED.

(1) Dynamics of land-use change: frontiers and transitions.

This research aims at a long-term understanding of the dynamics of natural resource depletion and resource rehabilitation. In 2004, six PhD researchers were working on topics related to land-use transitions.

Koen Overmars (LUTM project): Linking processes and patterns of land use change at the watershed level.

Marco Huigen (LUTM project): Multi-agent modelling of land use change at the community level.

Cecile Mangabat (LUTM project): Analysis of land-use policy formation and implementation in San Mariano, Isabela, the Philippines.

Marino Romero (NWO): Agricultural transitions at the forest frontier, the Philippines.

Susan Schuren (Junior Expert Program): Adoption of Agroforestry in the buffer zones of the Northern Sierra Madre Natural Park.

Emerson Barcellano (UPLB): Agroforestry characteristics and coffee production in Kalinga Province.


(2) Co-management of natural resources: visions and institutions.

Co-management, i.e. the sharing of responsibilities between local people and government, is widely seen as the key solution to resource management problems, especially those concerning natural resources with a high supra-local value, such as biodiversity, forests and fish stocks. This research theme aims to develop theory to accommodate the empirical lessons from the field. In 2004, there were four PhD students in CVPED working in this research program:

Tessa Minter (Junior Expert Program): Indigenous people and protected area management; the Agta of the Northern Sierra Madre Natural Park.

Padmapani Perez (Junior Expert Program): Visualizing forest; ethnography of people/forest interactions in Indonesia and the Philippines.

Merlijn van Weerd (Leiden University): The future of biodiversity in a priority conservation area under novel management approaches: birds, bats, butterflies and barangays in the Northern Sierra Madre.

Myrna Cureg (Isabela State University): Pannonono: Ibanag cultural narratives and discourses in a changing communication environment.