CENCE: Land use and forests

Projects 

• Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD+) (2009-present). This is a long-standing research topic, which encompasses several externally funded projects and PhD theses. The research covers a wide range of topics: drivers of deforestation, effective and equitable policy instruments at different scales, the political economy of deforestation, estimating reference levels for result-based payments, and international mechanisms for REDD+ payments. Methodologically, we have used data collected at the household level, national-level survey data, field experiments, and analysis of satellite-based spatial data. Geographically, the research has covered Indonesia, Uganda, Tanzania, DR Congo, Brazil and Peru. Much of the work has been done as part of CIFOR’s Global Comparative Study on REDD+. CENCE participants: Arild Angelsen, Ahmad Dermawan, Malte Ladewig and several former PhD students.
• BEDROCK: Deforestation free supply chains (2023-2027). The project aims to build and apply an evaluation framework that can provide a more systems-level understanding of the effectiveness of ongoing supply-chain interventions for halting tropical deforestation. It also includes researchers from Calmers University of Technology in Gothenburg, Stockholm Environmental Institute, and Senckenberg Biodiversity and Climate Research Centre in Frankfurt. The NMBU work package focuses on (assumed) Theories of Change, and analysis of the impact of supply chain initiatives such as the EU Deforestation Regulation. Work is focused on three countries and commodities: Indonesia (palm oil), Cameroon (cocoa), and Brazil (soy).  Funding is from the Belmont Forum (via the Norwegian Research Council). CENCE participants: Arild Angelsen and Ahmad Dermawan.
• Coffee supply chains, livelihoods and the environment (2024-2027). Sustainability- and quality-based interventions in the coffee industry may improve smallholder farmers' livelihoods. However, many interventions – both private and public – overlook the complex institutional environments in which smallholders operate, often resulting in unintended consequences. This PhD project aims to a) disentangling the relationship between value chain configurations (e.g. certified vs informally structured value chains) and livelihood strategies, and b) understanding barriers to climate adaptation and continuity of improved farm practices. The geographical focus is Timor-Leste. CENCE participant: Bjørge Bondevik.
• Youth Business Groups for Sustainable Development: Lessons from the Ethiopian Model (2019-2024). The project studies youth business groups that have been allocated communal land to establish sustainable businesses in northern Ethiopia. It combines surveys, field experiments and randomized control trials and includes alternative forms of training to enhance the performance of the group businesses. Funded by Research Council of Norway under the NORGLOBAL2 program for the period 2019-2022, but extended until 2024 due to the coronavirus pandemic and two years of civil war in the study area. CENCE participants: Stein Holden and Mesfin Tilahun Gelaye.
• SMARTEX - Experiments for Development of Climate Smart Agriculture (2021-2025). This collaborative research and capacity-building program, involving SEB, NMBU and LUANAR, Malawi, as the main partners, builds on the long-term collaboration between the two universities. LUANAR has established its own PhD program in Economics and needs to further develop and strengthen its capacity to run the program. SEB-NMBU will contribute to this within the areas of Behavioral and Experimental Economics, Climate Economics, and Land Tenure and Property Markets. Experimental methods will be applied to identify climate-smart solutions for sustainable intensification of agriculture in Malawi. The project is funded by NORAD under NORHED II. CENCE participant: Stein Holden and Dag Einar Sommervoll.