Summary

This research focuses on two related agendas:

• Development and implementation of methodologies to evaluate the social and cultural impacts of forest related interventions
• Contributions to the development of Decision Support Systems (DSS) for the forestry sector.

Our research to evaluate social and cultural impacts covers all stages in the policy, programme or project cycle. Key research areas include the development and implementation of methodologies for quantitative evaluation, including social indicators at different spatial scales, and qualitative evaluation, in particular for less tangible social and cultural impacts, and stakeholder engagement throughout the evaluation process.

Our contribution to the development of Decision Support Systems involves close collaboration between social scientists and modellers to engender a culture of interdisciplinarity to involve stakeholders in all stages of DSS development and ensure that social and cultural values are incorporated into the DSS as far as possible.

Contact

Mariella Marzano