Profile
Robert (Bob) Fisher is an anthropologist and human geographer. His PhD in anthropology involved a study of human ecology in the Thar Desert in Rajasthan. Since working for the Nepal–Australia Forestry Project between 1987 and 1989, he has specialised in anthropological and sociological aspects of natural resource and environmental management, particularly forestry. He was Deputy Director of the Regional Community Forestry Center for Asia and the Pacific (RECOFTC) in Bangkok between 1997 and 2001 and was a long-term advisor to IUCN The International Union for Conservation of Nature, focusing on land and resource tenure and poverty and conservation. Research and consultancy experience includes work in Nepal, India, Mongolia, Kyrgyzstan, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, Papua New Guinea, Mozambique, Liberia and Ghana.
Bob works as a Senior Research Fellow in the Tropical Forests and People Research Centre at the University of the Sunshine Coast, focusing on the ACIAR funded project 'Enhancing the implementation of community forestry approaches in Papua New Guinea'.
Professional memberships
- Fellow, Australian Anthropological Society
- Fellow, Institute of Australian Geographers
- Member of IUCN Commission on Environmental Economic and Social Policy (CEESP) and World Commission for Protected Areas (WCPA)
Highlighted publications
Community Forestry in Nepal: Adapting to a changing world
https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/e/9781315445151
Edited By Richard Thwaites, Robert Fisher, Mohan Poudel
Edition: 1st Edition
First Published: 11 December 2017
eBook Published: 11 December 2017
Pub. location: London
Imprint: Routledge
Pages: 228 pages
eBook ISBN: 9781315445151
Subjects: Area Studies, Development Studies, Economics, Finance, Business & Industry, Environment & Agriculture, Environment and Sustainability, Geography, Social Sciences
Environmental Governance and Decentralization
Authors: Fisher, Robert J
Year: 2017
Subject: FoR 1604 (Human Geography)
Publication Details: Routledge Handbook of the Environment in Southeast Asia / pp.133-146
Editor(s): Philip Hirsch (ed)
Resource Type: Book Chapter
Learning through action: reflections on action research in natural resource management
Authors: Fisher, Robert J
Year: 2013
Subject: FoR 0502 (Environmental Science and Management) | action research | natural resource management | natural resource governance
Publication Details: Adaptive Collaborative Approaches in Natural Resource Governance: Rethinking Participation, Learning and Innovation / pp.257-286
Editor(s): Ojha, H R, Hall, A, Sulaiman, R (eds)
Resource Type: Book Chapter
Linking conservation and poverty reduction: landscapes, people and power
Authors: Fisher, Robert J | Maginnis, Stewart | Jackson, William | Barrow, Edmund | Jeanrenaud, Sally
Year: 2008
Subject: FoR 0502 (Environmental Science and Management) | rural poor | rural development | sustainable development
Publication Details: p.168
Resource Type: Authored Book
Research areas
- Community/social forestry
- Forest policy
- Sociology of natural resource management, especially forestry
- Livelihoods, poverty reduction and conservation
- Action research
Dr Bob Fisher's specialist areas of knowledge include community forestry, natural resource management, REDD+, poverty and conservation, protected area governance