There’s a gap between knowledge and practice when it comes to adopting scientific recommendations for sustainably managing forests. So what can forestry scientists do to foster the adoption of good, research-based practices and policies? How can we effectively spread our research and get the people we’re trying to reach to take it on board? Robert Nasi, CIFOR scientist and Director of the CGIAR Research Program on Forests, Trees and Agroforestry, gave this presentation on these questions as his keynote speech at the opening session of the inaugral International Conference of Indonesian Forestry Researchers (INAFOR), held from 5 – 7 December 2011 in Bogor, Indonesia. INAFOR aims to provide a discussion and knowledge-sharing forum for Indonesia’s forestry scientists from governmental agencies or the private sector, and is planned as a preparatory forum for Indonesia’s increased involvement in IUFRO (the International Union of Forest Research Organisations).

1. Making Forestry Research Work:
Bridging Science, Practice and Policy
Robert Nasi
INAFOR Conference, 5-7 December 2011, IPB Bogor
THINKINGbeyond the canopy

2. The policy change
process
“The whole life of policy is
a chaos of purposes and
accidents. It is not at all a
matter of the rational
implementation of the so-
called decisions through
selected strategies.”
Clay and Schaffer (1984)
THINKING beyond the canopy

3. The gap between
knowledge and
practice
“Constraints to successful
management of sustainable
forest management over
the years largely relate to
the adoption of
recommendations — not
the generation of „best
practice‟.”
Dawkins & Phillip (1998)
THINKING beyond the canopy

4. A (never ending)
silviculture story THINKING beyond the canopy

5. The Indonesian silvicultural
systems
• Indonesian Selective Cutting System (Tebang Pilih
Indonesia – TPI): 1972
• Indonesian Selective Cutting and Replanting System
(Tebang Pilih Tanam Indonesia – TPTI): 1989
• Selective Cutting and Strip Planting System (Tebang Pilih
Tanam Jalur – TPTJ): 1995
• Intensified Silviculture (SILIN) or Intensified Selective
Cutting and Replanting System (Tebang Pilih Tanam
Intensif Indonesia-TPTII): 2005
• Silvicultural Multi-system (Multisistem Silvikultur)….
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6. TPI and TPTI
• TPI abandoned for TPTI without real assessment and lowland
forest disappeared
• TPTI: still prominent but
• Indiscriminate (all production forests; all population structure)
• Growth assumptions are too optimistic (most species <1cm/yr)
• No control of logging intensity (RIL ineffective if >8 trees/ha)
• Discrepancy between concession duration (20yr)/cutting cycle
(35yr)/rotation (70yr)
• Expensive ($10-15/m3)
• Line planting is not really successful (concession, maintenance)
 As a result the condition of the logged-over stands is not as
good as could be expected
Appanah 1998; Yasman 1998; Sist et al. 2003
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7. Scientific recommendations
Sist et al. 2003 THINKING beyond the canopy

8. SILIN/TPTII
• Diameter felling limit • Extensive stand perturbation
reduced to 40cm • Minimum fructification
• Line planting of 200 diameter generally > 40cm
seedlings/ha • First growth estimates only 7
• Rotation cycle down to 25 to 13% of planted trees reach
yr 2cm/yr
• Concession given for • Costs $15 to 40/m3
periods of 55 to 70 yr • Still complex prescriptions
• Growth assumption of • Authorise cutting in logged-
planted trees 2cm/yr over area
Priyadi et al. 2011
Seems to go against all the previous recommendations
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9. How to foster
adoption and
implementation
of good,
research-based
practices and
policies?
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10. Uptake / Adoption Curves
Research shows that when 10 to 25% of a target „population‟ has
adopted an innovation, the whole process becomes self-sustaining.
ONLY THEN DO „GOOD PRODUCTS SELL THEMSELVES‟
Cumulative
Early Late
Majority Majority
Number
of
users Early Adopters Laggards
Frequency
Pioneers
Time

11. Publications
Number of downloads /yr

12. Publications
Download
Title (2005 - 2011)
Realising REDD+: national strategy and policy options 46,793
Hutanpascapemanenan: melindungisatwa liar 38,947
dalamkegiatanhutanproduksidi Kalimantan
Moving ahead with REDD: issues, options and implications 29,252
Dari desakedesa: dinamika gender danpengelolaankekayaanalam 28,974
BelajardariBungo: mengelolasumberdayaalamdi era desentralisasi 22,992
Payments for environmental services: some nuts and bolts 22,350
Plantulas de 60 especies forestales de Bolivia: guia Ilustrada 22,035
Panduansingkatcarapembuatanarangkayu: 21,875
alternatifpemanfaatanlimbahkayuolehmasyarakat
Atlas industrimebelkayudiJepara, Indonesia 20,014
PartisipasimasyarakatdalampembuatankebijakandaerahdikabupatenTanj 19,712
ungJabung Barat, Jambi: ketidakpastian, tantangan, danharapan
Menujukesejahteraandalammasyarakathutan: 19,160
bukupanduanuntukpemerintahdaerah
Riquezasdafloresta: frutas, plantasmedicinais e artesanatonaAmérica 18,623
Latina
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13. Changing levels of stakeholder involvement
during successful innovation and uptake
processes
RESEARCH TEAM Quantifying
Ownership
impact
Understanding
Partnership
process
Consultation
KEY STAKEHOLDERS
Development Start-up Adaptation Application / expansion
Douthwaite 2001 THINKING beyond the canopy

14. Outreach and uptake efforts that
have little or no effect
 Educational materials (distribution of
recommendations for changed practice;
including practical guidelines,
audiovisual materials, and electronic
publications)
 Didactic educational meetings
(lectures like this one!!)
Pile of 855 guidelines in general practices in the Cambridge and
Huntingdon Health Authority
“The mass of paper we collectedrepresents a large amount of
information, but it is in an unmanageableform that does little to aid
decision making”
Spilsbury & Nasi 2004

15. Interventions of variable
effectiveness
 Audit and feedback (or any summary of
performance)
 The use of local opinion leaders (practitioners
identified by their colleagues as influential)
 Local consensus processes (inclusion of
participating practitioners in discussions —
problem focus and appropriateness of
solutions)
UNFF 4, Brazzaville 2004 THINKING beyond the canopy

16. Consistently effective outreach
efforts
 Educational outreach ‘visits’
 ‘Social’ media (blogs, Twitter, Facebook, website)
 Repeated reminders (manual or computerised)
 Multi-faceted interventions (a combination that
includes two or more of the following: ‘audit’ and
feedback, reminders, local consensus processes,
or marketing)
 Interactive educational meetings (participation of
intended users in workshops that include
discussion or practice)
UNFF 4, Brazzaville 2004 THINKING beyond the canopy

17. Impact on scientific publication
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18. Using videos, photos and
media stories to make
complicated REDD+
issues more accessible
for stakeholders
worldwide
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19. Conclusions
• Passive dissemination of information is generally
ineffective
• Best practice for dissemination and promoting
effective diffusion is well known, but seldom
implemented by research institutions
• Applied and strategic research institutions must
reward successin uptake / adoption not just count
publications
• Further empirical studies on the relative
effectiveness and efficiency of different
dissemination and uptake strategies is required –
build this into the research process
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20. www.cifor.org
THINKINGbeyond the canopy