Arthur Green

Arthur Green

Research Website: http://people.okanagan.bc.ca/agreen 

Education

· PhD (ABD) in Geography – McGill University.

· MSc in Natural Resource Management (Tropical Forestry and GIS) – North Carolina State University.

· BSc in Anthropology and International Relations – Guilford College.

· Japanese Scholar Certification – International Christian University, Tokyo, Japan.

Research Interests

Property rights, legal geography, postwar and post-disaster reconstruction, land tenure, land policy reform and administration, participatory mapping, food security, and sustainable livelihoods in the context of agrarian change, forestry, and agroforestry.

I came to the discipline of geography via my work in agricultural development, conservation areas, and forestry and agroforestry projects in Africa and SE Asia. As a result, my research focuses on the intersection of natural resource management, law, and geography. I am specifically interested in critical geography approaches to and applied research on property rights. I believe that an understanding of the ways in which people struggle to access, define, and distribute the rights and responsibilities surrounding property is crucial for understanding how cultural, political, legal, and economic systems function.

The questions that guide much of my research are:

1. How do societies define property? What can and should be owned? What are the rights and responsibilities of ownership? How does property both reflect and change the way that we relate to each other?

2. In what way do market-oriented approaches to property rights support or undermine sustainable livelihoods?

3. In what ways can and do communities manage forest resources outside of formal government control? How can communities get governments to politically and legally recognize and protect these practices?

4. How are natural resources implicated in and impacted by violent conflicts? How can natural resources be managed in postwar scenarios and during conflicts to promote peacebuilding? How are different types of social identity linked to different types of natural resources and different types of conflicts?

Current Research

My doctoral dissertation reflects several of the above questions, as it documents how property rights were managed, modified, and reconstituted in post-tsunami Aceh, Indonesia and in postwar East Timor.

I am a collaborator on a SSHRC Major Collaborative Research Initiative (MCRI) called The Indian Ocean World: The making of the first global economy in the context of human-environment interaction. The initiative examines how environmental change has historically influenced trade, migration, and political conflict in the Indian Ocean World region.

In Cameroon, I have been involved since 2002 with investigation of current and historical Mbororo natural resource management, migration, and settlement patterns, specifically in the Adamaoua region near Tchabal Mbabo. I hope to expand this work to examine how Islamic land law is adapted and practiced throughout the region.

I also have ongoing work with several participatory mapping projects around the world doing market analysis, natural resource management, and ecotourism development. For example, see the Green Map System Project in Paraty, Brazil

Okanagan College

Human Geography: Space, Place and Community (GEOG 128)

Human Geography: Resources, Development and Society (GEOG 129)

Introduction to Environmental Issues (GEOG 210)

Regional Geography of British Columbia (GEOG 217)

Human Geography: Space, Place and Community (GEOG 128)

Human Geography: Resources, Development and Society (GEOG 129)

Food and Society (GEOG 201)

Introduction to Environmental Issues (GEOG 210)

Regional Geography of British Columbia (GEOG 217)

The Canadian Landscape (GEOG 224)

Geographic Data Analysis (GEOG 270)

Carto, GIS and RS (GEOG 272)

McGill University

The Geography of Conflict (GEOG 515)

Selected Publications

Green, A. and Jon Unruh. (forthcoming). Clean development mechanisms for afforestation and reforestation - implications for mitigating climate change and for local agriculture. CAB Reviews: Perspectives in Agriculture, Veterinary Science, Nutrition and Natural Resources.

Green, A. 2011. Social Identity, Natural Resources, and Peacebuilding. In "Strengthening Post-Conflict Peacebuilding through Natural Resource Management: Livelihoods and Natural Resources in Post-Conflict Peacebuilding", edited by Helen Young & Lisa Goldman. London: Earthscan. ISBN: 9781849712330.

Green, A. 2011. Title Wave: Land Tenure Security and Peacebuilding in Aceh. In "Strengthening Post-Conflict Peacebuilding through Natural Resource Management: Land and Post-Conflict Peacebuilding", edited by Jon Unruh & Rhodri Williams. London: Earthscan. ISBN: 9781849712316.

Technical Reports

Green, A. 2007. Fruit Tree Crops & Nurseries in Aceh: A Rapid Market Appraisal of Aceh Jaya and Aceh Barat. World Agroforestry Centre: Bogor, Indonesia.

Green, A., and Jonas Tchinle. 2004. Mbororo Transhumance and Natural Resource Management in the Tchabal Mbabo-Dodeo Region, Cameroon. In Papers for the Gashaka Gumti-Tchabal Mbabo Transboundary Conservation Project, 113. Yaoundé, Cameroun: BirdLife International.