Anna Lawrence, BA, MSc, PhD

 

Head of the Social and Economic Research Group, Environmental and Human Sciences Division

Email: anna.lawrence@forestry.gsi.gov.uk

Tel: +44 (0)1420 22255
Tel direct: +44 (0)1420 526223
Fax: +44 (0)1420 23563

Address:
Forest Research
Alice Holt Lodge
Farnham
Surrey GU10 4LH
UK

Dr Anna Lawrence combines a background in botany (BA in Natural Sciences, University of Cambridge) and forestry (MSc in Forestry and its relation to land use, University of Oxford) with 18 years of experience in social forestry, and research into the cultural, social and political aspects of environmental management. This interdisciplinary perspective was developed through her PhD thesis on 'Tree-cultivation in upland livelihoods in the Philippines: implications for biodiversity conservation and forest policy' (University of Reading). She established and developed the Human Ecology Programme at Oxford University’s Environmental Change Institute during 2001-2007, before moving to Forest Research in January 2008.

Current role

Head of the Social and Economic Research Group, Environmental and Human Sciences Division

Strategic development of the group’s contribution to research that enhances the implementation of forest policy in Britain and Europe, and involvement in the international academic community.

Current programmes

Focusing on the strategic development of the Social and Economic Research Group with an emphasis on identifying and responding to research priorities related to the forest strategies of England, Scotland and Wales; and to developing partnerships with academic researchers.

In connection with her focus on the impact of participatory governance processes, she is local PI on the ESRC Sustainable Communities project: ‘Engaging with Rivers in a Period of Uncertainty’.

Affiliations and achievements

• ‘Distinguished Ethnobotanist’ lecture, Royal Botanic Gardens Kew 20006
• Editorial board, Forest Science (CABI)
• External examiner, PhDs in Edinburgh, Helsinki.

Research areas

• Adaptive forest governance: behavioural and institutional change; social learning, action research; interaction with climate change and implications of landscape scale planning
• Impact and effectiveness of changes in ownership and planning processes
• Science-policy-society: role of science in participatory processes; public understanding of productive forestry
• Cultural meanings of forests: implications, social indicators (quantitative and qualitative)
• Recent geographic focus on forest institutions in post-socialist Europe.

Publications

Recent peer reviewed

Books:
 
Lawrence, A. (ed) [in press]. Taking Stock of Nature: participatory biodiversity assessment for planning policy and practice. Cambridge University Press.

Lawrence, A. and Hawthorne, W. (2006). Plant identification: creating user-friendly field guides for biodiversity management. Earthscan, London. ISBN: 1 84407 079 4.

Papers currently under review:

Lawrence, A., and S. Molteno. (under review). The poplar choice: values and rationality in local biodiversity action plans Environment and Planning A.

Lawrence, A. (under review). Forests in transition: negotiated expertise in post-socialist Europe. Forest Policy and Economics.

Peer-reviewed papers:

Abidi-Habib, M. and Lawrence, A. (2008). Revolt and Remember: How the Shimshal Nature Trust develops and sustains social-ecological resilience in Northern Pakistan. Ecology and Society.

Lawrence, A. (2007). Beyond the second generation: towards adaptiveness in participatory forest management. CABI Reviews: Perspectives in Agriculture, Veterinary Science, Nutrition and Natural Resources 2 (28): 1-15.

Turnock, D. and Lawrence, A. (2007). Romania’s forests under transition: changing priorities in management, conservation and ownership. Geographica Timisiensis.

Lawrence, A., Paudel, K., Barnes, R. and Malla, Y. (2006). Adaptive value of participatory biodiversity monitoring in community forestry, Nepal. Environmental Conservation. 33 (4): 325-334.

Lawrence, A. (2006). “No personal motive?” Volunteers, biodiversity and the false dichotomies of participation. Ethics, Place and Environment 9 (3): 279-298.

Lawrence, A., Phillips, O., Reategui, A., Lopez, M., Rose, S., Wood, D. and José, A. (2005). Local values for harvested forest plants in Madre de Dios, Peru: towards a more contextualised  interpretation of quantitative ethnobotanical data. Biodiversity and Conservation 14: 45-79.

Sheil, D. & Lawrence, A. (2004). Tropical biologists, local people and conservation: new opportunities for collaboration. Trends in Ecology and Evolution, 19: 634-638.

Lawrence, A. and Szabo, A. (2005). Ethics and culture in the forestry profession: emergent changes in post-communist Romania. Silva Carelica: special issue on Forest Ethics. 49: 303-314.

Peer-reviewed book chapters:

Lawrence, A. and Molteno, S. (in press). Revising the UK’s Biodiversity Action Plan: forced change or reflexive change? In: Eric Brousseau, Tom Dedeurwaerdere, Bernd Siebenhüner  (eds) Reflexive governance for global public goods , pp. Xx-xx. MIT.

Lawrence, A., Szabo, A., Gillett, S. and Iusan, C. (in press). How biodiversity monitoring in Rodna Mountains, Romania has strengthened civil society. In Lawrence A. (ed) Taking Stock of Nature: participatory biodiversity assessment for planning policy and practice. Cambridge University Press.

Lawrence, A. and Gillett, S. (2004). Collaborative forest management. In: Burley J., Evans J. and Youngquist J. (eds) Encyclopaedia of Forest Sciences, pp. 1143-1157. Elsevier, Oxford.

Lawrence, A. (2004). Social values. In: Burley J., Evans J. and Youngquist J. (eds) Encyclopaedia of Forest Sciences, pp. 1126-1131. Elsevier, Oxford.

Lawrence, A. (2003). Participatory ecological monitoring in protected areas. In: Jaireth H. and Smyth D. (eds) Innovative Governance: Indigenous Peoples, Local Communities and Protected Areas, pp. 249-267. IUCN. Ane Books, New Delhi.

Lawrence, A. and van Rijsoort, J. (2003). A practical guide to participatory biodiversity assessment. In UNEP (ed) Biodiversity Assessment: a methods manual for practitioners. UNEP / World Conservation Monitoring Centre.

McDonald, M., Lawrence, A. and Shrestha, P. (2003). Soil erosion. In: Schroth G. and Sinclair F.L. (eds) Trees, Crops and Soil Fertility, pp. 325-344. CAB International.

Lawrence, A. (2001). Creating New Knowledge for Soil and Water Conservation in Bolivia. In: R. Jeffery and B. Vira (eds.) Conflict and Cooperation in Participatory Natural Resource Management, pp. 171-188. Palgrave, London.

Earlier and other publications

Peer-reviewed papers:

Lawrence, A., Ambrose-Oji, B., Lysinge, R., and Tako, C.  (2000).  Exploring local values for forest biodiversity on Mount Cameroon. Mountain Research & Development 20(2):112-115.

Felsing, M., Haylor, G., Lawrence, A. and Norrish, P. (2000). Reaching rural poor – developing a strategy for the promotion and dissemination of participatory aquaculture research: A case study from Eastern India. Journal of Extension Systems 16: 82-106.

Lawrence, A. (1999). Going with the flow or an uphill struggle? Directions for participatory research in hillside environments. Mountain Research and Development 19 (3): 203-212.

Carter, J., Stockdale, M., Sanchez-Roman, F. and Lawrence, A. (1995). Local people's participation in forest resource assessment: an analysis of recent experience, with case studies from Indonesia and Mexico. Commonwealth Forestry Review 74 (4): 333-342, 386, 388.

Books:

Lawrence, A. (2000). (ed) Forestry, forest users and research: new ways of learning. ETFRN, Wageningen, Netherlands / ANN-ETFRN, Vienna, Austria. ISBN 3-9501392-0-6.

Tucker, G., Bubb P., de Heer M., Miles L., Lawrence A., Bajracharya S.B., Nepal R. C., Sherchan R. and Chapagain N.R. (2005). Guidelines for Biodiversity Assessment and Monitoring for Protected Areas. KMTNC, Kathmandu, Nepal. 132 pp.

Peer-reviewed book chapters:

Lawrence, A. and Green K. (2000). Research and participatory forest management: comparing the priorities of resource users and development professionals. Pp. 63-70 in: Lawrence A.(ed) Forestry, forest users and research: new ways of learning. ETFRN, Wageningen, Netherlands / ANN-ETFRN, Vienna, Austria. ISBN 3-9501392-0-6.

Lawrence, A., Haylor, G., Barahona, C. and Meusch, E. (2000). Adapting participatory methods to meet different stakeholder needs: farmers’ experiments in Bolivia and Laos. Pp. 50-67 in Estrella M., J. Blauert, D. Campilan, J. Gaventa, Julian Gonsalves, Irene Guijt, Deb Johnson and Roger Ricafort (eds) Learning from Change: Issues and Challenges in Participatory Monitoring and Evaluation. Intermediate Technology Publications, London. ISBN 1 85339 469 6.

Lawrence, A., and Godoy, M. (1996). Participatory forest inventory in the Awá Sustainable Forest Management Project, Ecuador.  In: Carter J (ed) Recent approaches to participatory forest resource assessment, pp. 56-82. Rural Development Forestry Study Guide 2, ODI, London. ISBN 0 85003 232 6.

Lawrence, A., and Sánchez, R., F. (1996). The role of inventory in the communally managed forests of Quintana Roo, Mexico. In: Carter J (ed) Recent approaches to participatory forest resource assessment, pp. 83-110. Rural Development Forestry Study Guide 2, ODI, London. ISBN 0 85003 232 6.

Lawrence, A., and Carter, E. J. (1994). The CIAT Agroforestry Nurseries Programme. Chapter 2 in: Shanks E. and Carter E.J. (eds) Organisation of small-scale nurseries: case studies from Asia, Africa and Latin America, pp 9-21. ODI, London.

Other:

Hamilton, A., Dürbeck, K., and Lawrence, A. (2006). Towards a sustainable herbal harvest: a work in hand. PlantTalk 43 (January 2006): 32-35.

Kinhal, G.A., Rao, J. and Lawrence, A. (2006). A methodological template for participatory planning and designing for sustainable harvesting of medicinal plants. In: Maththapala, S. (ed) Conserving medicinal species: securing a healthy future, pp. 147-157. IUCN: Ecosystems and Livelihoods Group, Asia. ISBN: 955-8177-41-5

Lawrence, A. (2002). The unmeasurable whole: assessing forest biodiversity with multiple stakeholders. Proceedings of the World Forestry Congress, Quebec City for October 2003.

Lawrence, A. (2002). Perspectives on biodiversity: policy implications of farmers’ preferences and practices in the Philippines. Tropical Agricultural Association Newsletter 22 (3): 18-20.

Lawrence, A. (in press). Diversity by accident? Influences on changing tree cultivation by poor farmers in the Philippine uplands. In: Michon G. (ed) Cultivating tropical forests: The evolution and sustainability of intermediate systems between extractivism and plantations. New York Botanical Garden’s series ‘Advances in Economic Botany’.

Lawrence, A. and Eid, M. (2000). Guías metodológicas para investigación participativa. [Methodological guidelines for participatory research]. CIAT, Bolivia. [in Spanish].

Lawrence, A. and Mangaoang, E.O. with Barrow S. (eds) (2000). Foresters, farmers and biodiversity: new issues for the forestry curriculum Proceedings of the National Workshop on Local Knowledge and Biodiversity Conservation in Forestry Practice and Education, Visayas State College of Agriculture, 19-23 October 1998. Foundation for the Philippine Environment, Manila, Philippines, 82 pp.

Mangaoang, E.O. and Lawrence, A. (2000). Strengthening forestry curriculum on local knowledge and biodiversity: the ViSCA-Darwin project experience. In: Lawrence A. and Mangaoang E.O. with Barrow S. (eds) Foresters, farmers and biodiversity: new issues for the forestry curriculum. Foundation for the Philippine Environment, Manila, Philippines, pp. 132-147.

Lawrence, A. (2000). Farmers, trees and foresters: some communication issues. In: Lawrence A. and Mangaoang E.O. with Barrow S. (eds) Foresters, farmers and biodiversity: new issues for the forestry curriculum. Foundation for the Philippine Environment, Manila, Philippines, pp. 78-85.

Lawrence, A. (2000). Tree biodiversity in the Philippines. In: Butt, Nathalie and Price, Martin F. (eds) Mountain people, forests, and trees: strategies for balancing local management and outside interests. Synthesis of an electronic conference of the Mountain Forum April 12 – May 14, 1999; p. 29.

Vargas, C., Israel, G., Lawrence, A. and Miguel, E. O. (2000). Arboles y arbustos para sistemas agroforestales en los Valles Interandinos de Santa Cruz, Bolivia. [Trees and shrubs for agroforestry systems in the Andean foothills, Santa Cruz, Bolivia] Fundacion Amigos de la Naturaleza, Santa Cruz, Bolivia. 146 pp. [in Spanish].

Lawrence, A., Barr, J. J. F. and Haylor, G. S. (1999). Stakeholder approaches to planning participatory research. ODI Agricultural Research and Extension Network Paper no. 91.

Lawrence, A. (1999). Foresters’ education and farmers’ biodiversity: new lessons from the Philippines. Proceedings of the International Sustainable Development Research Conference 1999, University of Leeds, UK, March 25-26 1999, pp. 209-214. ISBN 1 872677 21 5.

Haylor G.S. and Lawrence A. (1998) Laos: participatory research and extension: how farm families, extension staff and researchers worked together to develop technologies for rice-fish culture. The Rural Extension Bulletin (October 1998): 51-53.

Lawrence, A. (1998), More than a technical challenge: Can aquaculture meet the needs of the rural poor? The Rural Extension Bulletin (October 1998): 7-9.

Lawrence, A. (1997). Contours, crops and cattle: participatory soil conservation in the Andean foothills, Bolivia. Agroforestry Forum 8 (4): 11-13.

Lawrence, A. (1999). Tree domestication in Leyte and Bohol, Philippines: the farmers’ perspective. In: Roshetko J.M. and Evans D.O. (eds) Domestication of agroforestry trees in Southeast Asia: proceedings of a regional workshop, Yogyakarta, Indonesia, 4-7 November 1997, pp. 133-137. Forest, Farm and Community Tree Research Reports Special Issue. Winrock International, Arkansas, USA and ICRAF, Nairobi, Kenya.

Lawrence, A. (1998.) Conservation through cultivation: on-farm tree diversity in the uplands of Leyte and Bohol. In: Apolinar C.L., Baradas F.C., Serrano R.C. and Belen E.H. (eds) People, Earth and Culture, pp. 125-136. Philippine Council for Agriculture, Forestry and Natural Resources Research and Development (PCARRD), Los Baños, Laguna, Philippines.

Lawrence, A. (1997). Kaingin: is it the end of the forest? Concepts of shifting cultivation in the Philippines. ODI Rural Development Forest Network Paper 21f, pp. 1-8.

Garforth, G. and Lawrence, A. (1997). Supporting sustainable agriculture through extension in Asia. ODI Natural Resource Perspectives 21; 4pp. Overseas Development Institute, London.

Lawrence, A. (1997). What is sustainability? A diversity of views. ILEIA Newsletter 13 (1): 17.

Lawrence, A. (1997). Mapping information flows. ILEIA Newsletter 13 (1): 22-23.

Lawrence, A. (1995). Farmer knowledge and use of Inga.  In: Evans, D.O. and Szott L.T. (eds) Nitrogen Fixing Trees for Acid Soils. Nitrogen Fixing Tree Reseach Reports (Special Issue), pp130-141. Winrock International and NFTA, Morrilton, Arkansas, USA.

Lawrence, A., Pennington T.D., Hands M.R. and Zúniga R.A. (1995). Inga: high diversity in the neotropics. In: Evans, D.O. and Szott L.T. (eds) Nitrogen Fixing Trees for Acid Soils. Nitrogen Fixing Tree Reseach Reports (Special Issue), pp142-151. Winrock International and NFTA, Morrilton, Arkansas, USA.