Our research focuses on understanding how decisions about the conservation and use of natural resources are shaped around the world.
We work with a wide range of governance institutions and networks, from intergovernmental processes and government agencies to market-based sustainability certification and locally-based and indigenous resource management.
A core aim of our research is to better understand how governance systems organise and distribute decision-making authority across conflicting interests, from the local to global scale, and the impacts of such systems on forests and people.
The Land, Society and Governance Programme (LSG) plays a leading role in the Society theme of the Leverhulme Centre for Nature Recovery (LCNR). LSG researchers examine how nature recovery is defined and governed at multiple scales across diverse landscapes, how its costs and benefits are distributed, and what lessons this holds for promoting equitable and restorative human-nature relations. The initial focus is on case study landscapes in the UK and Ghana which support a range of land uses, including conservation, recreation and the production of food and fibre for commercial and subsistence use.