Harry William Nelson

This research is centred on people-forest relationships that describe social aspects of forests’ significance to communities within the Kwakwa̱ka̱’wakw (the Kwak̓wala-speaking peoples) on the mid-coast of present-day British Columbia, Canada. Forests have always surrounded the Ḵwiḵwa̱sut’inux̱w Ha̱xwa’mis. As a result, forests are integral to peoplehood through oral histories, Indigenous stories, Indigenous language, forest practices, life cycles, and place-based Indigenous knowledge. The peoplehood model was considered compatible with the relationality found in the people-forest relationships that tie individual people to their respective communities and to wildlife, fish, plants, forests, and oceans. This research was developed using Indigenous methodologies and participatory action research. Consequently, the research questions, topics, and analysis methods were adjusted following group evaluation with community sessions led by myself. Four stand-alone empirical chapters were chosen to complement each other about people-forest relationships and Indigenous stories, Indigenous women’s identities, and forest resources the Ḵwiḵwa̱sut’inux̱w Ha̱xwa’mis depend on, including traditional foods and western red cedar. Even though the Ḵwiḵwa̱sut’inux̱w Ha̱xwa’mis are forced to deal with modern-day issues, we wish to maintain and reassert our identities based on an ancient culture. The findings were, most of all, that the forest-people relationships are about being and remaining in place, by a continuous occupation of the area, with no intention of leaving. The Ḵwiḵwa̱sut’inux̱w Ha̱xwa’mis origin story highlights a living history and the significance of western red cedar to T̓seḵa̱me’, a founding ancestor of the Kwiḵwa̱sut’inux̱w. Importantly, traditional foods were identified as an essential part of the culture that transcends nutritional values; these foods are expected to continue being served at ceremonies despite cumulative barriers to access. There are concerns from the community that our identities have been obscured, our forest practices have been limited, and current policies do not safeguard essential forest resources, including traditional foods and western red cedar. Regardless, families want children to know our cultural heritage (including Indigenous stories, dances, songs, and place names), travel the territories, and learn the Indigenous language, Kwak̓wala. Community-led resurgence projects are underway.

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Increases in wildfire suppression cost expenditures, an upward trend in burned area, increasing damages and evacuations, along with research pointing to a worsening trend in all of these areas as a result of climate change is motivating research into methods to limit the consequences of wildfire. My research is chiefly concerned with the use of economic tools to identify the best use of resources when evaluating fuel mitigation efforts both from a project perspective and at the landscape level. Using tools from Extreme Value Theory, I show that the distribution of wildfire costs is not likely to follow a normal distribution and instead is more likely drawn from fat-tailed distributions. This distribution implies that conventional tools of economic analysis, in particular, cost-benefit and cost-effectiveness analysis are not applicable and, if economic tools are to be applied, alternative approaches need to be developed. I present an alternative approach for analyzing individual projects, modeled after banking stress-tests, and apply it to four fuel-treatment case studies in the interior of British Columbia. This approach, called the Defensibility Heuristic, makes use of frontline experience (tacit knowledge), has few data and modeling requirements, and has the potential to quickly rank projects within a government budget and planning cycle that are most likely to protect the most important values. Following the development of this approach for picking fuel treatments in the short run, a tool for making decisions about longer-term forest management concerned with wildfire management is considered. This tool is community-centric as opposed to taking a provincial or federal perspective. Different approaches to ranking outcomes from decision theory were considered in the face of wildfire events that were drawn from a Power Law distribution. The existing decision rules were found wanting and I developed a rule called a Trauma Exposure. This decision rule was applied to the problem of setting annual harvest volumes to show that setting the harvest volume slightly below maximum sustained yield and organizing forest stands into a patchwork is likely to result in a more stable harvest volume over the long run.

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In response to a need for enhanced water governance, water institution reforms are taking place around the world. Common among these reforms is a shift from monocentric to polycentric governance systems, bridging multiple scales of stakeholders through a mix of institutional arrangements. Benefits of a polycentric approach are commonly associated with higher performance in diverse contexts through better adaption to changing conditions, customized rules that meet local needs and a sense of trust amongst stakeholders. However, even though water reforms identify probable benefits from a polycentric approach, the ability to predict which type of institutional arrangement is likely to yield desired outcomes remains a challenge. This study applies the institutional resource regime framework and transaction cost economics to evaluate the current water regime in British Columbia and identify if an alternative water governance arrangement can promote sustainable outcomes through minimized transaction costs. First, I perform an assessment of the water regime in British Columbia from 1859 to 2016 to identify how and why institutions have changed over time. Second, I compare the perception of transaction costs associated with a watershed agency and a regional district alternative arrangement to the current system to identify if an alternative arrangement can improve coherence through more efficient organizational structures. Third, I assess the perceived transaction costs for a watershed arrangement from respondents in the Okanagan region compared the rest of the province. Data were collected through document analysis and 36 surveys and 5 semi-structured interviews with government officials. Results confirm a complex water regime in British Columbia. Transaction costs under both watershed agency and regional district alternative arrangements were perceived higher compared to the current system, in contrast to what the literature would suggest. In addition, perceived transaction costs do not significantly differ between respondents in the Okanagan region compared to the rest of the province suggesting no additional coherence associated with a watershed agency arrangement in the Okanagan basin. I conclude that the current system is evolving towards integration, but remains complex due to incomplete Aboriginal rights and title to water, jurisdictional and organizational fragmentation and undefined water yield quotas and water quotas.

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Firms seek competitive advantages either through cost leadership or product differentiation strategies. Cost leadership may be achieved by shifting away from vertical integration (VI) to vertical de-integration through outsourcing that often results in significant cost and flexibility gains. Product differentiation can be achieved through new product introductions (NPI) that can help firm enter new markets and meet changing consumer needs. However, modern firms not only face pressure to be competitive, but also to be socially responsible. As firms increasingly incorporate corporate social responsibility (CSR) in their operations, a key question emerges about the effect of CSR on fundamental strategic decisions related to vertical integration (VI) and new product introductions (NPI). The primary aim of this thesis is to address this question. Toward that end, the thesis is divided into three main sections described below.First, it takes stock of the extant literature on VI, especially because this construct has grown in numerous disparate directions that has led not only to conceptual ambiguity, but also rendered a bewildering array of empirical findings. The first section of this thesis, therefore, synthesizes VI literature before analyzing the effect of CSR on VI. In contrast, NPI -the other construct used in this thesis- is relatively well understood and hence the NPI based empirical section does not need a theoretical precursor. The second section comprises an examination of the link between CSR and VI. Consistent with transaction costs economics theory, panel data regression results show that higher CSR performance is associated to higher VI. In other words, socially responsible firms tend to vertically integrate, i.e., outsource less. The third section comprises the analysis of the link between CSR engagement and NPI. In this section, I consider CSR as a multidimensional construct that bundles multiple and even dissimilar activities together. Drawing on the knowledge based view of the firm, panel data regression results show that while discretionary activities concerning environmental and social engagement (labeled as informal CSR) directly and positively affect the rate of NPI, compliance-oriented corporate governance activities (labeled as formal CSR) do not directly affect the rate of NPI.

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Chile´s native forests are one of the world´s 25 priority conservation ecoregions due to their high levels of endemism. These forests have been strongly disturbed by human activities in the past, which has resulted in high levels of deforestation and forest degradation. In Chile, 70% of forests are in private lands, so their fate depends on landowners´ decisions. Current knowledge about factors influencing these decisions is limited. In this research I analyzed (a) the cause-effect relationship between firewood production and deforestation/forest degradation, (b) the underlying drivers of timber extraction and livestock browsing, and their joint pressure on forests, and (c) the influence of culture on the use of forests. 315 surveys with landowners were performed in the Los Rios Region in two field campaigns, one in 2012 (pre-sampling) and the other in 2013 (sampling). I also carried out 173 economic games to measure both time and risk behaviors. I found that the decision to produce commercial firewood depends on native forest cover (%), the proportion of off-farm income (%), and an additional eight variables, which create contexts where firewood is either a permanent component of the productive system, or only a secondary activity (non-permanent). Firewood production was not found to be the primary driver of deforestation and only in some specific contexts there was evidence that it could be related to forest degradation. Moreover, livestock over-browsing has a higher impact on forests than timber extraction. While forest overharvesting is largely restricted to very specific contexts of low schooling and availability of off-farm incomes, and can present inter-annual fluctuations, forest over-browsing is a permanent structural driver. The total pressure on forests not only depends on farm size, but also on the balance between different land uses. More balanced farms show a lower pressure on forests. From a cultural standpoint, the three cultural groups that were compared show differences in terms of time and risk behaviors, which in turn influence the use of forests. Time and risk behaviors affect consumption rates (timber extraction) and investments in new tree plantations, which can replace native forests in supplying markets, preventing further degradation.

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Aboriginal peoples are seeking sustainable ways to steward and develop forests. Sustainable forestry is central to Aboriginal life and culture. Research indicates that the industrial forestry model has failed to address their socio-economic needs. To date, Aboriginal involvement in forestry is characterized by a limited economic role in forest development, limited influence over forest management, and an inability to integrate Aboriginal culture and values.The case study of Essipit (Quebec, Canada) provides new insight on how Aboriginal communities can contribute to sustainable forestry. Growing deep roots means using a culturally adapted model of forestry that is consistent with Aboriginal culture and values, which is therefore more likely to support long-term social change and economic growth. To ensure reliability and validity, this research employed four data gathering techniques: observation, documentation, interviews and focus-groups. Results identify the entrepreneurship framework that led to the success of Aboriginal forest enterprises in Essipit, the level of authority held by Essipit over forest governance, and Essipit objectives for forest-based development. Therefore, this thesis provides a framework that aims to support Aboriginal forest development in theory and practice.Despite constraints, such as timber access, capacity and institutions, Essipit was successful in engaging in forestry. Acquiring exclusive commercial rights to harvest wildlife became a key strategy that allowed Essipit to address social needs and create leverage for future forest-based activities. Essipit innovated in forest governance: they created a partnership with the forest company Boisaco and, thus, gained authority over forest management decisions at the operational level. Results indicate that the profitability motives of the forest industry areiiiinsufficient, because Essipit has other objectives and priorities. The forest industry looks primarily at the tree, while Essipit looks at everything that surrounds and supports it.This research emphasizes the importance of developing a model that will outlast changes in government or industry. A forestry model that has deep roots is integrated into the community and the culture. It can sustain these types of changes and keep growing. Without this understanding of Aboriginal experiences, knowledge and objectives, local initiatives and government policies will remain uninformed and, potentially, fail.

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