Environment Matters!
A Research Colloquium and Workshop Series
School of the Environment

presents
Merve Hosgelen (Flinders University):

Population Growth, Forests and Sustainable Livelihoods in Timor-Leste:
The role of traditional governance systems in a fragile state context

All welcome.

Wednesday, 21st May 2014 at 4:00 – 5:15 pm

Teletheatre, Information Science and Technology (IST) Building 47, off
Physical Sciences Road, Car park 15 – parking fees apply
(See campus map)

For information on the coming presentations in this series please
visit the school website:
http://www.flinders.edu.au/science_engineering/environment/activities/2014-eawm.cfm

Timor-Leste, the newest nation in Asia has one of the poorest and
fastest growing populations in the world. The absolute increase in
population size and prospective changes in the demographic structure
over the next two decades will pose enormous challenges for its
sustainable development. This research finds that forest resources are
a fundamental part of subsistence and cultural living in Timor-Leste
but in the face of weak institutions and rapid population growth their
sustainability is at great risk with an annual deforestation rate of
1.3 percent. This presentation explores the role of traditional
customary laws Tara Bandu as a complementary forest governance system
in support of securing livelihoods and restoring a healthy environment
in Timor-Leste.

Ms Merve Hosgelen is a PhD candidate at the School of the Environment
in Flinders University. In the past five years she has been
extensively involved in research projects related to population,
poverty, sustainable development and conflict issues in Timor-Leste
funded by DSTO and Flinders University. She has worked as a consultant
at the UNDP Poverty Reduction and Environment Unit in Timor-Leste and
co-authored Timor-Leste’s National Report on Sustainable Development
that was submitted to the Rio+20 Conference in 2012.