Forest Conservation and Management Policies and Issues
FOR 5615 Fall 2006, Section 6947, 3 credits
School of Forest Resources & Conservation/IFAS/University of Florida

Instructor
Janaki R.R. Alavalapati, Associate Professor
365 Newins-Ziegler Hall
School of Forest Resources and Conservation
University of Florida
Phone: 352-846-0899, Fax: 352-846-1277, Email: janaki@ufl.edu

Time & Location
Tuesdays 4:05 pm to 7:05 pm (periods 9-11)
112 Newins -Ziegler Hall
Office hours: Tuesdays 9-11; Mondays 1-3pm; OR make an appointment


Course background & objectives
Forest resources serve many social, economic, and environmental needs of people around the world. Conservation and management of forest resources will have a profound impact on the economy and environment. Continuous changes in public preferences towards forests use will generate new forest management issues and those issues will often translate into new policies or bring changes in the existing policies. Policies in turn will impact conservation and management of forest resources. Therefore, it is imperative for forest resource professionals to understand the dynamics of policy process and to further skills in policy analysis.

This course will further students' understanding about policy development and ability to analyze forest conservation and management policy issues from social, economic, and environmental perspective. This objective will be pursued by

  • reviewing the historical & current state of the world's forests
  • identifying selected contemporary policy issues
  • understanding the dynamics of policy development & implementation
  • exploring political economy of decision-making in a democratic set up
  • examining the role of social justice or ethics in public policy
  • analyzing selected national and international resource policy issues

At the completion of the course, the student will:
1) Develop a historical profile of forest/wildlife/resource policy and organizations for a nation or region
2) Participate in a debate and develop a policy position paper with science as the basis
3) Review scientific publications relating to forest conservation policies
4) Assess a policy using socioeconomic and environmental criteria
5) Write a comprehensive term paper by applying concepts and theories to a forest policy issue

Course Structure
Organization
The course is organized into five modules. The first module focuses on definitions, concepts, development, and analysis framework of a public policy. Historical aspects & state of the world's forests are reviewed to get a grasp on forest management issues, policies and organizations. Role of markets and the state in public policy are reviewed in the second module. While the third module addresses the political economy of decision-making, the fourth module focuses on the role of social justice in policy formulation and assessment. The final module reviews selected resource conservation policy issues from social, economic, and ecological view point.

Reading material
A set of readings is compiled into a text book. A set of readings is compiled as a book. You can buy this book from Target Copy, 1412 W University Avenue, Gainesville, Phone 376-3826. Following references are used in compiling the book. Additional readings may be assigned if necessary.

Alavalapati, J.R.R. and D. Zarin. 2004. Neotropical working forests - For what and for whom? In  Working forests in the American tropics: Conservation through sustainable management. Pp. 279-289. D. Zarin, J.R.R. Alavalapati, F. Putz, and M. Schmink (eds.), Columbia University Press, New York.

 

Bardach, E. 2000. A practical guide for policy analysis: The eighth fold path to more effective problem solving. Chatham House Publishers, New York.

 

Clemons, R.S. and M.K. McBeth 2001. Public policy praxis: Theory and pragmatism: A case approach. Prentice Hall, New Jersey.

 

Cubbage, F.W, J. O'Laughlin, and C.S. Bullock III.1993. Forest resource policy. John Wiley & Sons, New York.

 

Ellefson, P.V. 1992. Forest resource policy: Process, participants, and programs. McGraw-Hill, INC. New York.

 

Peterson, E.W.F. 2001. The Political economy of agricultural, natural resource, and environmental policy analysis. Iowa State University Press, Ames.

 

Sugden, R. 1992. Social Justice, pp 259-285. In: Hargreaves Heap, S., M. Hollis, B. Lyons, R. Sugden, and A. Weale. The theory of choice: A critical guide. Blackwell, Cambridge, USA.

 

Van Den Doel, H. and B. Van Velthoven 1993. Democracy and welfare economics. Cambridge University Press, New York.

Assignments, exam, and term projects
There will be four assignments, one examination, and a PAS (Participation and Sharing Exercise) in this course. The first assignment involves exploring a resource policy from a historical perspective and understanding and assessing the structure and linkages of organization that is responsible to administer the policy. The second assignment requires you to participate (as a team member) in a debate on a topic in forest policy and prepare a "position paper" (GUIDE LINES of the position paper) that states the team's position on the topic. The third assignment  focuses on the political economy of decision-making in a democratic set up. The fourth assignment requires you to work individually and investigate a resource policy issue or theory and turn-in the paper. For PAS EXERCISE, you have to pair with one more student and explore a policy issue (what, why, who, when, where, and how aspects) and make a presentation to the class. More details about assignments and exams will be given later in the class.

Grading: 90 and above A; 85 to <90 B+; 80 to <85 B; 75 to <80 C+; 70 to <75 C
 

Course requirements

Marks

Due dates

Assignment # 1

15%

Sep. 19

Assignment # 2

10%

Oct. 10

Assignment # 3

15%

Nov. 14

Examination

25%

Nov. 21

Assignment # 4

25%

Due on the last day of class

PAS exercise

10%

Through out the class

Course Schedule and readings

I Forest policy definition, process, and analytical framework (Week 1-3)
Forest resource policies (Ellefson 1992; Peterson 2001; Cubbage et al. 1993)

Public policy theory and pragmatism (Clemons and McBeth 2001)
Policy analysis (Bardach 2000)
A framework of policy analysis (Alavalapati and Zarin 2004)

 

NOTES 1    NOTES 2    NOTES 3

 

II Role of markets and state in public policy (Week 4-5)
 Welfare economics and the role of the state (Peterson 2001)
 

NOTES 4

 

III Political Economy of public policies (Week 6-12)
 Negotiation democracy (Van den Doel & Van Velthoven 1993)
 Referendum democracy (Van den Doel & Van Velthoven 1993)
 Representative democracy (Van den Doel & Van Velthoven 1993)
 Implementation bureaucracy (Van den Doel & Van Velthoven 1993)
 Summary of political economy (Van den Doel & Van Velthoven 1993)

 

NOTES 5    NOTES 6            NOTES 7        NOTES 8

 

IV Social justice in public policy (Week 12-13)

Social justice (Sugden 1992) (OPTIONAL if someone wants)

Ethical considerations in public policy (Peterson 2001)

 

NOTES 9

 

V Review of selected resource conservation issues (Through out the course)

Conservation through “Payment for Environmental Services”

Sustainable forest management through “Certification”

Improving forest health through bioenergy

 

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