The desire for research to be policy relevant has caused many social science studies to have “engineering” dimensions. With respect to the engineering of property rights, economic approaches indicate that we require knowledge regarding the makeup of current property rights structures, how changes to current structures affect the use and management of natural resources, and how property rights have evolved.

The overarching objective for CIFOR is to ensure that research activities result in significant impacts. A secondary, but very important, requirement is to be able to measure and quantify impact. However, impact assessment at CIFOR is viewed as a component in the broader frame of research evaluation and within the dynamic system of identifying problems, planning solutions, producing outputs, promoting adoption, and securing positive outcomes in line with its mission. In the context of this changing environment, adaptation and learning are key institutional requirements.

This publication is a collection of the abstracts of in-house and external publications produced in the year 2000 by CIFOR scientists and their collaborators. It also abstracts several publications produced in 1999 that were not able to be included in the 1999 research abstrats. The abstracts are grouped into six themes that represent CIFOR's research activities. Indexes are provided by author and subject.

This note is part of an on-going effort to gain insights to impact assessment and research uptake literature of relevance to natural resource management-related research. It is provided more for the reference list than for the merit of the associated text that is still at an early stage. Many more references have been collected but have yet to be screened for their potential relevance.

This publication is a collection of the abstracts of in-house and external publications produced in the year 2000 by CIFOR scientists and their collaborators. It also abstracts several publications produced in 1999 that were not able to be included in the 1999 research abstrats. The abstracts are grouped into six themes that represent CIFOR's research activities. Indexes are provided by author and subject.

This brief article begins with a summary of CIFOR's work on criteria and indicators for sustainable forest management (C&I). It then discusses how CIFOR programs combined to form the program called Local People, Devolution and Adaptive Collaborative Management of Forests". It briefly describes the research approach and the research design underway in 9 countries.

This paper provides the general objectives of the special issue: secondary forests in Asia: their diversity, importance and role in future environmental management. It provides a brief overview of the renewed attention to tropical secondary forests and sketches the history of research on this subject.