2005 - 2006 Fellows

Brazilian Fellows

See the Brazil Fellows' background paper, The State of Forest Management Resources in Brazil [pdf]

Marta Maria Gomes De Oliveira

Marta Maria Gomes De Oliveira has a B.A. in Agronomics from the University of Brasília, Brazil, Specialization training in “Soil and Environment” from the University of Lavras, Brazil, and M. Sc. in Environmental Planning and Management from the Catholic University of Brasilia. She works as an Environmental Analyst in the Secretariat of the Environment of the Federal District, Brasília– DF- Brazil. There she has worked as Manager of Environmental Inspection and Licensing, coordinated the elaboration and execution of the Federal District’s Forest Fire Prevention and Combat Plan and coordinated the project “Sustainable Development: a data base for the Federal District.”. She has also worked as an Agronomist in the Brazilian Federal Ministry of Agriculture, where she was Director of the Pesticides Department. There, she represented the National Secretariat of Farming Defense in the National Environment Council.

She will be in Berkeley from October 23 through December 17, 2005.

The current process of occupying the Brazilian Cerrado (Savannah), which has occurred without civil society participation, is one face of the development model adopted in Brazil in recent decades. The model is based on financial subsidies and fiscal incentives, on land concentration, on the introduction of technological packages, on the implantation of infrastrucure to support business development, and on the expulsion of rural populations through the destructuring of the conditions allowing them to produce.

The degradation and destruction of the ecosystems of the Cerrado biome that this model causes has fostered a great deal of insatisfaction on the part of civil society organizations concerned with the preservation of the biome. Today there are more than 300 working for socio-environmental causes and promoting sustainable development in the Cerrado. These organizations represent rural workers, extractivists, native populations, quilombolas (ex-slave communities), fishermen or are intermediary technical NGOs. They have played an important role in the resolution of conflicts in the region, although this role has yet to be measured.

Thus, in addition to the plans presented in the paragraph sent earlier, I intend to carry out research on the contribution of civil society organizations to the resolution of environmental conflicts. I will carry out the following activities:

• Establish contacts with Berkeley departments that are involved in issues related to civil society organization;
• Find out about research conducted at Berkeley on social movements and their organizations;
• Review the literature on the role of NGOs in the resolution of environmental conflicts
• Get to know experiences and theories on the issue.

Luiz Fernando Macedo Bessa

Luiz Fernando Macedo Bessa, Professor at Catholic University of Brasília, Ph.D. (Doctorat de 3ème Cycle) in Human Geography and Organization of the Space University of Paris- Panthéon- Sorbonne-France. Diploma (Diplôme d’Etudes Approfondies – DEA), from Institut d’Etudes du Développement Economique et Social (IEDES), Regional Analysis and Organization of the Space, University of Paris I - Panthéon – Sorbonne, - France. Undergraduate Degree in Public Administration from “Escola de Administração de Empresas de São Paulo” da Fundação Getúlio Vargas. At the Catholic University, he teaches in the Environmental Management and Planning Graduate Program. Before joining the university faculty, he worked as a United Nations Development Program-UNDP consultant at the Brazilian Ministry of Environment, both in the National Environmental Program II -PNMA II and the Pilot Program to Conserve the Brazilian Rain Forest -PPG-7- (Ministry of Environment-Brazil/World Bank/UNDP). He has also worked as a consultant for the Panamerican Health Organization-PAHO, with the National Project of Rural Sanitation – (Ministry of Planning/ Brazil/ World Bank/PAHO) Brasília-DF.

He will be in Berkeley from September 17 through January 31, 2005

I plan to study sustainable governance mechanisms for socio-environmental conflict resolution. The focus of my project will be the occupation of the Brazilian Cerrado (or Savannah region), emphasizing governance mechanisms which environmental management debates in the region have largely ignored. Although macro-level economic and social processes affecting the Cerrado are relatively well understood, it remains necessary to identify and map conflicts at the community level. The project to be carried out during the first half of 2006 would involve three stages:

1. a meeting with regional organizations to identify communities where an action-research project could be carried out, and to define activities that would contribute to the solution of environmental conflicts,
2. research in the selected community(ies); and,
3. a training workshop or other activity with actors from the selected community(ies).

In order to maximize the possibilities for cooperation with the University of California, Berkeley, the following activities will be carried out during the fellowship period (September 2005-January 2006):

• A consultation of current bibliography to develop a theoretical framework on “green governance” and to establish contacts with researchers studying the theme at Berkeley;
• Participation in seminars, talks, and mini-courses on the theme of “green governance”, environmental management and planning, and environmental conflict management;
• Participation in discussions and exchange ideas and experiences on forest management practices in Africa and Asia, especially Nigeria and Indonesia;
• Establishment of contacts with Berkeley researchers that might lead to partnerships and collaborative work;
• Learning about research on the environmental interests and behavior of social actors (NGOs, Businesses, Unions, etc.);
• Developing and discussing the methodology for the proposed activities in the Brazilian Cerrado, which would occur in the semester following the fellowship period.

Indonesian Fellows

Dianto Bachriadi

Dianto Bachriadi, member of the advisory board for KARSA Institute, holds an undergraduate degree in Anthropology from the University of Padjadjaran, Indonesia, and is a Ph.D. student of Flinders University, South Australia. He has served as the Executive Director of PERGERAKAN (People Centered Advocacy Institute), is a member of the national team for the working group on agrarian conflict resolution under the Indonesian government’s national committee on human rights (KOMNAS HAM), is a chairperson of the executive body for Consortium of Agrarian Reform (KPA), is a team member of Indonesia’s Ecolabeling Institute to develop a sustainable community-based forest management certification system, is a senior program officer advocate at Oxfam GB Representative Office in Indonesia. He has also conducted numerous studies on peasant movements, land reform initiatives, agrarian reform policy, forest control and politics, and land tenure policy. He is the primary author of three books, co-author of five books, and editor of three books and has written more than twenty articles focusing on land issues and agrarian policies in Indonesia. His current research interests are the political-economy of agriculture and rural development, agrarian reform, peasant and social movements and organizations.

He will be in Berkeley for the entire Fall 2005 semester.

Mustofa Agung Sardjono

Mustofa Agung Sardjono is the Director of the Center for Social Forestry, University of Mulawarman, Samarinda, East Kalimantan, Indonesia; and a member of the advisory board of KARSA Institute. He holds a forestry degree from the University of Mulawarman, Samarinda, and has a Ph.D. degree in Agroforestry/Social Forestry from the University of Hamburg, Federal Republic of Germany. His activities involve academic and public engagements. He is a full professor at the University of Mulawarman, Samarinda, East Kalimantan. He has written more than 180 scientific articles, papers, books and teaching materials, some of which are publicly published. He initiated the establishment of the Center for Social Forestry (CSF) at Mulawarman University in 1997, the Social-Biosphere Foundation (local research and development oriented NGO) in 1998 and Reforestation and Land Rehabilitation Working Group for East-Kalimantan (KKRHL) in 2000. He was involved in the development of Community Guidance Activities by forest concession holders upon the request of the Ministry of Forestry, a visiting scholar at University of Melbourne, Australia, and a member of Promotion Commission for a doctoral thesis on Agroforestry in Wageningen University, Netherlands. He did a number of consultancy activities with international institutions and donor organizations (e.g. German Technical Cooperation Agency, Center for International Forestry Research, World Agroforestry Center/ICRAF, the Ford Foundation), as well as private sectors (e.g. forest concessionaires). His research focus is on community-based forest management in Indonesia.

He will be in Berkeley from November 8 through December 21, 2005.

Nigerian Fellows

Sofiri Joab-Peterside

Dr. Sofiri Joab-Peterside is a research fellow with the Centre for Advanced Social Science (CASS), Port Harcourt, Nigeria. Dr. Joab-Peterside earned his Ph.D in Sociology with a specialization in the Sociology of Development (emphasis on sociology of development of the Niger Delta Region of Nigeria) from the University of Port Harcourt. He also earned his Bachelor of Science and Master of Science in Sociology from the same university.

He is the Editor of CASS’s News Letter and a member of a number of civil society organizations committed to the promotion and protection of human rights and development of the Niger delta region of Nigeria. He has presented speeches and papers at seminars and workshops on the Niger Delta. His latest Presentations include "Transnational Oil and Gas corporations And Niger Delta Sustainable Development", and “The Media: Defense and promotion of Human Rights in the Niger Delta".

His current research interests are on the monitoring of oil resource flows and its use in the Niger Delta and the Petro, Socio-Political arms conflict in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria.

He will be in Berkeley for the entire fall 2005 semester.

Patterson Ogon

Patterson Ogon is the Founding Director of the Ijaw Council for Human Rights, (ICHR) a Policy advocacy non-governmental organization in Nigeria’s Niger Delta and is the Associate Director of Our Niger Delta.

As a social change advocate, he has demonstrated his love for his nation and people as an active campaigner for social reforms and ecological justice with an ideal for peace. He has worked on several intervention measures in community conflicts both within and outside of the Niger Delta.

He is a 1990 graduate of Politics and Administration at the University of Port Harcourt, Nigeria, has been part of a dynamic and challenging work environment willing to apply innovative techniques in meeting the challenges of societal development. He has been trained in conflict mitigation and peace building both by the United States consulate in Nigeria and other institutions.

He has participated in conferences and initiatives both within and outside Nigeria including Bread for the World on “The Challenges of Better Practice in the Oil Industry: Dialogue between European Civil Society Groups and Multinational Oil Corporations”, German based World Economy, Ecology and Development (WEED) initiative on “Strategic Alliances of Northern and Southern NGOs in Global Environmental Policy to strengthen the flow of information in the field of trade and environment.

Mr. Ogon has broad experience in developmental activities having participated in several community based development activities in Nigeria.

He will be in Berkeley from October 30 through December 21, 2005