This chapter uses an historical case study approach to convey some sense of the kinds of research social scientists do at the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR). It describes CIFOR's work in developing criteria and indicators for sustainable forest management, which led to the...

In this chapter, it is argued that indicators need not be reductionist, indeed they can be holistic and pluralistic and a whole system of indicators can be greater than the sum of its parts. The role of indicators as communication devices, arranged in a network involving complex interactions and...

This chapter provides a brief history of the social component of the Center for International Forestry Research project, 'Assessing Sustainable Forest Management: Testing Criteria and Indicators', with special reference to the issue of security of inter-generational access to resources (SIAR). We...