Arthur Green

Department of Geography
McGill University
Telephone: (646) 502-7479
Email:arthur.green@mail.mcgill.ca, arthurgreen4@gmail.com

I am academically affiliated with:

McGill Centre for Human Rights
& Legal Pluralism

USINDO

Centre for Developing Area Studies

Research Interests
Property rights, legal geography, postwar and post-disaster reconstruction, land tenure, land policy reform and administration, participatory mapping, food security, and sustainable livelihoods in the context of agrarian change, forestry, and agroforestry.

I came to the discipline of geography via my work in agricultural development, conservation areas, and forestry and agroforestry projects in Africa and SE Asia. As a result, my research focuses on the intersection of natural resource management, law, and geography. I am specifically interested in critical geography approaches to and applied research on property rights. I believe that an understanding of the ways in which people struggle to access, define, and distribute the rights and responsibilities surrounding property is crucial for understanding how cultural, political, legal, and economic systems function.

The questions that guide much of my research are:

• How do societies define property? What can and should be owned? What are the rights and responsibilities of ownership? How does property both reflect and change the way that we relate to each other?
• In what way do market-oriented approaches to property rights support or undermine sustainable livelihoods?
• In what ways can and do communities manage forest resources outside of formal government control? How can communities get governments to politically and legally recognize and protect these practices?
• How are natural resources implicated in and impacted by violent conflicts? How can natural resources be managed in postwar scenarios and during conflicts to promote peacebuilding? How are different types of social identity linked to different types of natural resources and different types of conflicts?

Current Research
My doctoral dissertation reflects several of the above questions, as it documents how property rights were managed, modified, and reconstituted in post-tsunami Aceh, Indonesia and in postwar East Timor.

I am a collaborator on a SSHRC Major Collaborative Research Initiative (MCRI) called The Indian Ocean World: The making of the first global economy in the context of human-environment interaction. The initiative examines how environmental change has historically influenced trade, migration, and political conflict in the Indian Ocean World region.

In Cameroon, I have been involved since 2002 with investigation of current and historical Mbororo natural resource management, migration, and settlement patterns, specifically in the Adamaoua region near Tchabal Mbabo. I hope to expand this work to examine how Islamic land law is adapted and practiced throughout the region.

I also have ongoing work with several participatory mapping projects around the world doing market analysis, natural resource management, and ecotourism development. For example, see the Green Map System Project in Paraty, Brazil.

Education

2012 PhD. Geography (expected)
McGill University, Montreal, Quebec.
Dissertation: A Geography of Peace: An Investigation of Land Titling in Post-Conflict Areas

2005 MSc. Natural Resource Management - MIP
North Carolina State University, Raleigh, N.C.
Thesis: Ethnic and Geographic Distribution of Natural Resoruce Management Strategies in the Tchabal Mbabo Region of Cameroon
Minor: Geographic Information Systems

1999 BSc. Anthropology and International Relations (Cum Laude)
Guilford College, Greensboro N.C.

1997 Japanese Scholar Certification and Intensive Language Program
International Christian University. Tokyo, Japan.

Courses Taught
UBC-O
Environment and Resources (GEOG 310)
Okanagan College
Space, Place and Community (GEOG 128)
Resources, Development and Society (GEOG 129)
Introduction to Environmental Issues (GEOG 210)
Regional Geography of British Columbia (GEOG 217)
McGill University
The Geography of Conflict (GEOG 515)

Selected Publications (*Peer reviewed)

*Green, Arthur. 2012. Social Identity, Natural Resources, and Peacebuilding. In Strengthening Post-Conflict Peacebuilding through Natural Resource Management: Livelihoods and Natural Resources in Post-Conflict Peacebuilding (v.4), edited by H. Young and L. Goldman. London: Earthscan.

*Green, Arthur. 2012. Title Wave: Land Tenure Security and Peacebuilding in Aceh. In Strengthening Post-Conflict Peacebuilding through Natural Resource Management: Livelihoods and Natural Resources in Post-Conflict Peacebuilding (v.2), edited by J. Unruh and R. Williams. London: Earthscan.

*Green, Arthur, and Jon Unruh. 2010. Clean Development Mechanism Afforestation and Reforestation Projects: Implications for Local Agriculture. CAB Reviews: Perspectives in Agriculture, Veterinary Science, Nutrition and Natural Resources.

*Green, Arthur. 2010. Land Tenure Security and Peacebuidling in Aceh, Indonesia. Asian Journal of Environment and Disaster Management 2 (1):283-290.
Green, Arthur, and Kai Bucher. 2006. Geospatial analysis of cotton production potential in Sub-Saharan Africa. Paper read at Proceedings of Intercarto 12: GIS and Sustainable Development, at Berlin.

Green, Arthur. 2007. Fruit Tree Crops & Nurseries in Aceh: A Rapid Market Appraisal of Aceh Jaya and Aceh Barat. Bogor, Indonesia: World Agroforestry Centre.

*Green, Arthur. 2004. Reflections from the Field: Islam and the Tsetse Fly. Sylvanet 17 (2):2-5.

Green, Arthur, and Jonas Tchinle. 2004. Mbororo Transhumance and Natural Resource Management in the Tchabal Mbabo-Dodeo Region, Cameroon. In Papers for the Gashaka Gumti-Tchabal Mbabo Transboundary Conservation Project. Yaounde, Cameroun: BirdLife International.

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FELLOWSHIPS

McGill Majors Fellowship (2007-2009): $10000 renewable.
United States-Indonesia Society Sumitro Fellow (2007): $10000
Centre for Developing Area Studies Fellow (2006-2007): $1000
NCSU Department of Forestry Fellowship (2002/2005): $9000
NCSU Graduate School Grant (2002): $5000
Bonner Service Scholar (1995-1998): $6000
Dana Leadership Scholar (1996-1999): $10000
Takase Foundation Scholarship for Advanced Japanese Studies (1996-97): $10000

GRANTS

Warren Fieldwork Grant (2007-2008): $4000
Centre for Developing Area Studies Fieldwork Grant (2007): $3000

AWARDS

Gamma Sigma Delta (Agriculture Honor Society) (2005)
Xi Sigma Pi (Forestry Honor Society) (2005)
Guilford College Most Outstanding CCE Anthropology Student (1999)

PROFESSIONAL AFFILIATIONS & LEADERSHIP

McGill Centre for Human Rights & Legal Pluralism (2008)
Faculty of Science Advisory Council (2006-2008)
Geography Graduate Society President (2006-2007)
AAG: Association of American Geographers (2004- present)
ISTF: International Society of Tropical Foresters (2001-2005)
RPCV: Returned Peace Corps Volunteer Cameroon (2005)

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