Erasmus Mundus MSc MEDFORPalencia, 29 January 2013

Specialization offered by thePortuguese Catholic University

(Porto):Sustainable management of

Mediterranean forests: an Institutional Economics approach

Américo M. S. Carvalho Mendes& the UCP (Porto) team

• Why this specialization? • Key topics of the course contents– Key concepts– Key issues

• Suggestions for dissertation topics

Outline

• The fundamental mistake of forest management– To manage forests IS NOT, first of all, to

manage trees, forest stands, or forest landscapes.

Why this specializa-

tion?

• The fundamental mistake of forest management– To manage forests IS, first of all, to

manage people who own, value and use those trees, forest stands, or forest landscapes to sustain their livelihoods.

Why this specializa-

tion?

• This is why it is important to take into account:– the institutions (formal and informal

social norms), communities and the organisations (families, firms, forest owners’ organisations, public organisations, etc.)

– within which and through which– human beings– behave– In order to appropriate, to value and to

use forest resources for their livelihoods.

Why this specializa-

tion?

• KEY CONCEPTS for an Institutional Economics approach

• THEIR RELEVANCE for major issues specific to Mediterranean forest management

Key topics in the course

contents

• Types of THINGS people value (GOODS and SERVICES):– The 5 dimensions of a precise definition of goods

and services– Typology in terms of the mode of appropriation

(degree of exclusion and degree of rivalry)

Key concepts

• Types of VALUES people give to things:– Not only Use and Exchange Value– But also– Symbolic exchange value– Identity value– Cognitive value– Eudemonic value

Key concepts

• VALUES people give to actions, intentions and personality traits (MORAL VALUES) as the internal regulators of human BEHAVIOURS

Key concepts

• SOCIAL NORMS (or INSTITUTIONS) as the external regulators of human behaviours:– Similarities and differences with respect to moral

values– Genesis of social norms: cooperation, coordination

and conflict resolution problems– Rights (human rights, property rights, etc.)

Key concepts

• VALUE TRANSFORMATION PROCESSES:– Market processes and non market processes– The “expansionay nature” of the market processes

and the tendency to economic globalisation

Key concepts

• ORGANIZATIONS:– General concept of organizations – Types of organizations and their specificities:

• Families• Firms• Social economy organizations• State organizations

Key concepts

• COMMUNITIES:– Concept of human communities– Economic relevance and economic properties of

human communities

Key concepts

• SUSTAINABILITY AND RESILIENCE:– Concepts of sustainability and resilience– Sustainability and resilience of human organizations– Sustainability and resilience of human communities

Key concepts

• SOCIETY and GOVERNANCE:– Concept of human society– Concepts of governance (Weak vs. Good

governance) – Agency theory approach to policy formulation and

implementation (resouce availability, individual and group rationality and incentive compatibility)

Key concepts

• Why forest land expand or decrease in the long run?– Long run trends in forest and other land uses depend very much

on the values people give to forests and on the dynamics of human societies

– Do public policies (national forest policies, EU polices, etc.) play a major role in these trends?

• Forest land uses and market dynamics– Some forest use values also have an exchange value, but others

don’t (carbon sequestration, biodiversity, landscape quality, etc.)

– In Mediterranean forest non market use values are very important

– How to find a “monetary valuation” and an institutional setting for “internalisation” of those non market use values?

• Conflicting or “multifunctional” uses of forest resources?– Agro-pastoral uses vs. “productive forest” uses– “Productive forest” uses vs. “urban” or “conservation” uses– What institutions for conflict resolution?

Key issues

• Forest property rights– Very wide diversity of forest property rights regimes in

Mediterranean forests– Are these regimes changing? In what direction?– Forest landownership fragmentation: Is it possible to cope with

small scale forest ownership in order to improve forest management? What role of forest owners’ and local development organisations?

• Forest risks– The high risks of forest fires in Mediterranean forests– Do these risks have mainly a “natural” origin or not?– Institutional and organisational arrangements for forest fire

prevention and extinction

• Public policies– Forest policy failures and the fundamental mistake of forest

management– Agency based approach to forest policy formulation and

implementation (resouce availability, individual and group rationality and incentive compatibility)

Key issues

• Foundations of Social Economics• Economics and Management of Social Economy

Organisations• Sustainable Development• Governance of Mediterranean Forests• Research Methods (quantitative, qualitative)

Courses

• Long run trends in forest and non forest land uses accross the Mediterranean countries– Description with comparable data– Analysis: main influential factors– Roles of public policies

• Non market use values of Mediterranean forests – Monetary valuation– Successful cases of internalisation

• Conflicting or “multifunctional” uses of of forest resources?– Successful and non successful cases of “multifunctional” uses– Institutional arrangements for successful “multifunctionality”

Suggestions for

dissertation topics

• Forest property rights– Description: variety of forest property rights regimes accross

Mediterranean countries– Analysis: Are these regimes changing? Where, how and why?

• Modes of collective organisation of forest owners and users– Description: private forest owners’ organisations, communal

forests, hunters, etc.– Analysis: Do these forms of collective action have an impact on

forest management?

• Forest fires– Role of human and social factors in forest fires in the

Mediterranean countries– Institutional arrangements for forest fires prevention and

extinction: Are there best practices? Are they transferable?

• Public policies– Implementation analysis of a forest programmme based on the

agency theory framework (identification of implementation successes or failures; explanation of these implementation gaps)

Suggestions for

dissertation topics

THANK YOU VERY MUCHFOR YOUR ATTENTION

carvalho.mendes@sapo.pt