South Asia; development studies; forestry; Bangladesh; India
Background & Qualification
BA(Hons), Modern Chinese Studies, University of Durham (2005); MSc(Hons), Contemporary Asian Studies, University of Amsterdam (2011)
Doctoral Research
Why are some institutions better than others at protecting forestry rights? The case of Bangladesh and India.
Research Overview
Current scholarship on forestry governance in Bangladesh and India suggests that there are substantial differences in outcome, defined in terms of conservation success, across the region. In many respects this is surprising as both countries share a common legal-administrative framework inherited from the colonial period (including the 1927 Forestry Act for example).
From the post-Independence period to the present day, a varied number of institutions and mechanisms have been put in place in across the region to address conservation concerns, some of which work better than others. Taking a theoretical approach informed by New Institutionalists such as Elinor Ostrom, the project will compare and contrast institutional ‘fixes’ at work in different settings in both countries, aiming to analyse which work better than others in protecting forestry rights and why.