Fragmentation of information procurement from large area forest inventory and the link to the policy-making process within the international forest regime complex

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Christoph Kleinn
• Subject Area: Forestry
• Term: from 2012 to 2015
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 225169319

This project aims at analysing the contribution of scientific information to the fragmentation of the international forest regime complex (IFRC) by applying an interdisciplinary approach at the interface between forest inventory research and policy science. Its objectives are1. Analyzing the use of inventory information within the IFRC by different national and international bureaucracies and their non-state allies and its effect on fragmentation. 2. Assessing the extent and quality of the inventory information used in policy processes as compared to the potentially available information. 3. Analyzing implemented inventory practices against the scientific state of the art approaches and their role in the context of fragmentation 4. Identifying avenues for scientific knowledge to enter into the IFRC by testing the knowledge-transfer-by-allies-hypothesis. The project will review the technical scientific possibilities of forest inventories and develop a method for assessing quantity and quality of inventory-based information used within the IFRC by national and international bureaucracies. Subsequently, the quality of information used will be assessed against the state of the art in inventory research. Based on the hypothesis that information may only enter the policy process in alliance with powerful actors, who in turn selected the information, the project will analyse the interest-driven selection of information by political actors.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants