Dr. Joel Heinen, who has worked on conservation issues in tropical and temperate Asia over the past 20 years, joined the FIU faculty in 1993 as an Assistant Professor. He is now Associate Professor and Chair of Environmental Studies. His research has focused on conservation policy in several countries, especially: Nepal, Kyrgyzstan, India and Thailand. The research has been in two broad areas: studies of park-people relations of those who live near parks and reserves; and policy studies of how developing countries adopt international conservation standards, laws, and practices.

Over the years, Dr Heinen and his students have used techniques such as household surveys in villages around parks in Nepal and India to measure attitudes of local people about conservation of species such as tigers, rhinos and elephants, and to assess economic welfare of households. FIU graduate students who have worked on such projects under Dr. Heinen’s direction are: Jay Sah (PhD – Biology), Rahul Shrivastava (MS - Environmental Studies) and Nabin Baral and Nilesh Timilsina (MS in progress - Environmental Studies). The presence of large mammals poses costs on local people such as crop and livestock loss. In most cases the presence of parks also has advantages for local people such as tourism jobs and rights to remove some forest products. Studies such as these give policy makers information that can be used to design programs to increase benefits by, for example, providing more direct and indirect economic opportunities that target people who suffer the most costs from wildlife.

In other areas, Dr Heinen has explored general questions of how countries adopt international standards in conservation. One study explored the fur trade in Nepal beginning in 1990, which was illegal at the time but very open. Dr Heinen and associates documented the extent of furs for sale to tourists and the animals affected. The team found fur coats made of both endangered (e.g. snow leopards), and common species (e.g. foxes) and the study lead to a national meeting, in 1994, to address the problem. Legislation was later passed in Nepal to prosecute violators.

Additionally, Dr Heinen, several senior colleagues, and a Master’s student (Diana Ter-Ghazaryan – now an FIU PhD student in International Relations), have studied conservation policy in Kyrgyzstan (Central Asia) since independence from the Soviet

Union. The team poses general questions about modern conservation laws and policies in the country, how effective they are, and where there are gaps in enforcement. This work has so far led to several major papers, one MS thesis, and hosting three Kyrgyz Fulbright Scholars at FIU.

To date, Dr Heinen has authored over 130 publications; nearly 60 of which are academic journal articles or book chapters; he has been a Peace Corps Volunteer, a Fulbright Senior Scholar and he is an invited member of international groups such as the Species Survival Commission of the World Conservation Union, the World Cultural Council and the Mountain Forum. With the development of a PhD program underway, the Department of Environmental Studies expects to host many more graduate students and colleagues over the years from Asia’s developing countries to work on these and other timely conservation issues.

Posted Oct. 21, 2004
For more information contact Dr. Heinen at heinenj@fiu.edu.