Environmental Governance across Scales

My research focuses on how institutional arrangements for land management (both formal and informal) shape individual behaviors and the resultant social and ecological outcomes. I am particularly interested in understanding how specific conservation policies crafted in international or national policy arenas interact with more localized land-use norms and the role that decision-making processes have in shaping these interactions and their respective outcomes.

I ground my research in the models and methods of political science, but draw on a variety of disciplines in my analyses of different environmental issues. To assess the design and outcomes of different conservation policies, I use quasi-experimental field-based research that involves gathering data via ethnographic methods and household surveys, conservation assessments, and analysis of land cover images.

Most of my work has focused on resource management in Latin America, examining the interface between agricultural expansion and conservation in lowland forests as well as highland ecosystems. In previous work, I examined the social and ecological impacts of different property rights arrangements for forest protected areas. My current work assesses the institutional and behavioral impacts of different Payment for Ecosystem Services (PES) incentive arrangements.

Contact Information

INSTITUTE OF PUBLIC SERVICE and ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES | SEATTLE UNIVERSITY

901 12th Ave, Seattle, WA 98122

Office: Casey 212

Phone: (206) 296 5485 | Email: hayest@seattleu.edu