Phil Franks

Principal researcher (biodiversity), Natural Resources

Phil Franks is an expert on the social dimension of natural resource management and conservation, with a particular focus on better understanding and applying social equity principles in this context.

Full biography

He is currently working on the development of low-cost methods for assessing the social impacts of protected areas and protected area governance, conservation-development linkages, and social and environmental safeguards for REDD+, the international effort to reduce carbon emissions from deforestation and forest degradation. He has extensive experience in Africa, Nepal, Southeast Asia and South America.

Expertise

Conservation and human-wellbeing/poverty, natural resource governance, REDD+, climate-smart agriculture
Particular experience in Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda, DRC, Ethiopia, Mozambique, Ghana, Nepal, Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam, Brazil, Ecuador, Peru

Before IIED

Global coordinator, Poverty, Environmental and Climate Change Network, CARE International
Project coordinator, BirdLife International
Project manager, Development through Conservation, CARE Uganda.
MA Natural Sciences, Cambridge University. MSc Resource Management, Edinburgh University

Current work

Assessment of the social impacts of protected areas
Integrated conservation and development
Equity in conservation and REDD+
Social and environmental safeguards for REDD+

Interviews

IIED expert interviews: Phil Franks

Phil Franks's projects

A group of men at a table under a tree

Site-level assessment of governance and equity (SAGE)

Project, May 2020

A conservation agriculture demonstration at the Golden Valley Agricultural Research Trust, Zambia. Conservation agriculture can increase productivity and improve soil structure (Photo: Barbara Adolph/IIED)

Social and environmental trade-offs in African agriculture

Project, Aug 2017

Women harvest their rice crop in Meceburi forest reserve, near Nampula, Mozambique (Photo: Mike Goldwater)

Food demand and forests in sub-Saharan Africa

Project, Nov 2015

A REDD strategy team talk to farmer Nimale Maribu at the Meceburi Forest Reserve, Mozambique. Photo: Mike Goldwater

Testing REDD+ in Mozambique

Project, Oct 2013

Tracking Gorillas in Bwindi Impenetrable Forest, Uganda. Photo: YouTuT

Uganda: Conserving Bwindi Impenetrable National Park and reducing local poverty

Project, Aug 2013

The interface between forests, agriculture and climate change: understanding the implications for REDD

Project, Sep 2010

Recent publications

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Food and forests: understanding agriculture and conservation trade-offs in Ethiopia

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Food and forests: understanding agriculture and conservation trade-offs in Ghana

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Food and Forests: Understanding agriculture and conservation trade-offs in Zambia

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Agriculture, nature conservation or both? Managing trade-offs and synergies in sub-Saharan Africa

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Conservation versus food production in Africa: better managing trade-offs

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Governance Assessment for Protected and Conserved Areas (GAPA). Methodology manual for GAPA facilitators

Phil Franks's blog posts

A view over a forest

Truly transformative change is key to combating the biodiversity crisis

Blog, Jun 2020

People sitting on outdoor chairs gather around and contribute views as one person writes up their points on paper pinned to the wall

CBD COP14: a breakthrough on understanding and assessing equity in conservation

Blog, Nov 2018

A market takes place in the village of Tiogo next to the Tiogo Forest in Burkina Faso. With much of the food and hand crafts on sale from the forest, the community is dependent on the conservation of the forest to maintain their livelihoods (Photo: CIF Action, Creative Commons, via Flickr)

Towards a fairer future for conservation

Blog, Sep 2016

A women's group in Kenya scores social impacts of protected areas using a participatory rural appraisal method (Photo: Phil Franks/IIED)

Equity, inclusion, conservation and the SDGs

Blog, Mar 2016

A traditional dance festival attracts tourists in Romania's Maramures Nature Park. The park was designed as a multifunctional protected landscape and was zoned to reflect both environmental priorities and economic needs of local people (Photo: Radu Pop/UNDP, Creative Commons via Flickr)

Equity, justice and ecosystem services: what do we mean?

Blog, May 2015

Ethiopia's Mursi tribe graze cattle, but also hunt for meat and ivory. There are frequent conflicts with government and park authorities about land rights (Photo: David Stanley via Flickr)

Ensuring equitable management of protected areas: we're still defining the issues

Blog, Dec 2014