Recognized Forests: The Political Ecologies of Land Returns

Speaker: Dr. Micah Fisher (Fellow, East-West Center Research Program)

Date & Time: April 7, Thursday, 12:00pm – 1:00pm HST

Location: Saunders 443 and On Zoom (Passcode: Lecture)

About the Talk:

In the face of immense deforestation and dispossession in tropical forest countries, social movements have succeeded in establishing mechanisms for securing land rights for local and Indigenous Peoples. Recognizing local rights to forests are framed not only in terms of environmental justice, but increasingly as a broader solution for climate change. Engaging with longstanding debates around land grabbing, this research examines the mechanisms, processes, and outcomes of land returns in Indonesia. The presentation will highlight not only the formal mechanisms for securing land rights and forest tenure, but also centers understanding of any initiative for land rights recognition through the lens of local livelihoods and ecologies.

About the Speaker:

Micah R. Fisher is a Fellow in the Research Program at the East-West Center. He conducts research on the human-dimensions of environmental change such as deforestation, land degradation, urbanization, and disasters in the Asia-Pacific through a lens of political ecology. Recent research has focused on land rights and tenure policies; climate change mitigation in forests; disaster risk and water insecurity in Greater Jakarta; agrarian change, youth, and livelihoods in Sulawesi; and technologies of public participation. He is also a senior lecturer at the Department of Forestry at Hasanuddin University in Indonesia and currently serves as co-Editor in Chief for the journal Forest and Society.