Dr. Janet Fisher

Postdoctoral Research Associate: Ecosystem Services for Poverty Alleviation Framework Project

I am an environmental social scientist interested in the interfaces between conservation, climate change and development. I am currently working as a Postdoctoral Research Associate on a framework project under the Ecosystem Services for Poverty Alleviation programme.

I am interested in the rapid rise to prominence of Ecosystem Services concepts, and how these change human priorities for nature. My doctoral thesis, completed within the School of International Development at the University of East Anglia, is entitled ‘Payments for Ecosystem Services in Forests: Analysing Innovations, Policy Debates and Practical Implementation’. It analyses how international tropical forest conservation interest groups adopt ecosystem services concepts and the implications these have for their priorities, the arguments they engage in, and their practice; how they do conservation. As part of this, I study their uptake of policy mechanisms such as Payments for Ecosystem Services (PES). Through fieldwork in Uganda, I focus on the implications that PES involves for local people. I analyse the implications of conditionality and monetary incentives, looking particularly at distributional equity, adaptability and flexibility under a contractual approach and the temporal sustainability of PES.

I have another set of research interests stemming from my Masters thesis, around social and political aspects of wind energy development, particularly in remote areas of the UK.

Previous to my PhD, I completed an MSc in Environment and International Development (UEA) and a BSc in Natural Sciences (Durham University). My Masters and PhD were funded by a 1+3 award from the UK Economics and Social Research Council.

Key Research Interests

• Ecosystem Services

• Payments for Ecosystem Services

• Integrated Conservation and Development

• Tropical Forest Policy and REDD+

• Ecological Economics

• Q Methodology

• Wind Energy in the UK

• Deliberation in Environmental Policy

Publications:

Fisher, J. A. (2012). 'No pay, no care? A Ugandan case study exploring motivations for participation in Payments for Ecosystem Services' Oryx - The International Journal of Conservation 46(01): 45-54. Available to download from here

Fisher, J. A. (2011). Payments for Ecosystem Services in Forests: Analysing Innovations, Policy Debates and Practical Implementation. Doctoral Thesis. School of International Development. Norwich, University of East Anglia.

Fisher, J. A. and K. Brown (2009). 'Wind energy on the Isle of Lewis: implications for deliberative planning.' Environment and Planning A 41(10): 2516-2536. doi:10.1068/a41129 Available to download from here

Contribution to DEFRA REDD Project (2009). Component 4: Identification of Priorities for REDD Preparedness and Demonstration Activities. Peter Akong Minang, Gilian Cerbu, and Brent Swallow, World Agroforestry Centre, Nairobi, Kenya

Conference Papers:

Fisher, J. A. , Patenaude, G., Meir, P., Nightingale, A., Rounsevell, M. D. A., Williams, M. & Woodhouse, I. H. Conceptualising ecosystem services for poverty alleviation. International Association for Landscape Ecology, UK conference, University of Wolverhampton, Sept 2011

Fisher, J. A. The use of Ecosystem Services and PES amongst conservation groups: just a ‘rhetorical tool’? Nature Inc. Conference: Questioning the Market Panacea in Environmental Policy and Conservation. ISS, The Hague, The Netherlands, July 2011

Fisher, J. A. “No pay, no stay?”: Exploring local systems of environmental value under a payments for ecosystem services model. International Conference of Conservation Biology, Alberta, Canada, July 2010

Fisher, J. A. A new paradigm? Exploring the shift to ecosystem services amongst tropical forest interest groups. Cambridge University, Department of Geography: May 2010