Doris Capistrano

Dr. Doris Capistrano "is Director of the Forests and Governance Programme of the Centre for International Forestry (CIFOR – www.cifor.cgiar.org), one of 16 centers of the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research. In her current position, she is responsible for providing strategic direction and leadership for an interdisciplinary, multi-cultural research division working in selected countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America. She serves on several forest-related advisory and steering committees, including the Steering Committee of the Asia Forest Partnership.

"Dr. Capistrano is also Chair of the Board of Directors of the Rights and Resources Initiative (www.rightsandresources.org), a consortium of organizations working to promote forest tenure and market reforms in support of sustainable forest management and poverty alleviation. She is also member of the Executive Council of the International Association for the Study of the Commons (iascp@indiana.edu), an interdisciplinary professional association of academics and practitioners concerned with natural and common pool resources, policy  and institutions for their management.

"Dr. Capistrano was member to the technical panel of the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MA), a multi-year international *effort to assess changes and trends in ecosystems and human well-being. She was co-chair of the MA Working Group on Sub-global Assessments. "Prior to joining CIFOR in 2003, Dr. Capistrano held positions with the Ford Foundation in South Asia. She was Deputy Representative for India, Nepal, and Sri Lanka with concurrent responsibility for the Foundation’s forestry program development and funding in the South Asia region. She also previously served as Ford Foundation Program Officer for Rural Poverty, Resources and Environment in Bangladesh where her grant-making and technical assistance responsibilities focused on fisheries.

"Before joining the Ford Foundation, Dr. Capistrano was engaged in academic teaching and research in the US and in her home country, the Philippines. Her previous positions included: MacArthur Foundation Teaching and Research Fellow in Tropical Conservation and Development at the University of Florida’s Center for Latin American Studies; Study Leader, Policy Development and Socio-economic Studies of the Program on Environmental Science and Management; Instructor in Economics, College of Development Economics and Management of the University of the Philippines at Los Banos; and Research Intern, Environment and Policy Institute, East-West Center, Hawaii.

"Dr. Capistrano received her Ph.D. in Food and Resource Economics with specialization in Natural Resources and Environmental Economics from the University of Florida. She obtained her masters degree in Agricultural Economics and her bachelors degree in Business Economics from the University of the Philippines."

Selected Recent Publications

 * Capistrano, D. (forthcoming) “Decentralization and Forest Governance in Asia and the Pacific” In: Equity, Legality and Finance in Asian and Pacific Forests, edited by Colfer, C, G. Dahal and D. Capistrano, Earthscan and CIFOR.


 * Dahal, G. and D. Capistrano (2006) Forest governance and Institutional Structure: an Ignored Dimension of Community-based Forest Management in the Philippines. International Forestry Review. 8(4): 377-394.


 * Reid, W., F. Berkes, T. Wilbanks and D. Capistrano (eds.) 2006 Bridging Scales and Knowledge in Ecosystem Assessment. Island Press.


 * Colfer, C. and D. Capistrano (eds) 2005. Politics of Decentralization: Forests, Power and People. London: Earthscan.


 * Capistrano, D. and C. Colfer (2005). Decentralization: Issues, Lessons and Reflections. In: Colfer, C. and D. Capistrano (eds.) Politics of Decentralization: Forests, Power and People. London: Earthscan.pp. 296-313


 * Capistrano, D., C. Samper, M.J. Lee and C. Raudsepp-Hearne (eds.) 2005. Ecosystems and Human Well-being: Multi-scale Assessments, Vol. 4. Findings of the Sub-global Assessments Working Group of the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment. Island Press.