Publications

Simon West, Oliver Lilford, Vanessa Masterson, Emmeline Laszlo Ambjörnsson, Beau Austin, Bram Büscher, Laura‐Bethia Campbell, Marnie Graham, Kuntala Lahiri‐Dutt, Lisen Schultz, Marja Spierenburg, Grace Wong, Carina Wyborn. 2026. Masculinities in Conservation Science, Policy and Practice: A Qualitative Systematic Review. Conservation Letters. https://doi.org/10.1111/con4.70007

Gender equality is a key target for conservation but is often treated as a women's issue with limited attention to the roles of men and masculinities in perpetuating unequal gender relations. This paper provides a qualitative systematic review of academic literature on “masculinities”—actions, norms, and values associated with men—in the conservation sector and synthesizes the reported effects of masculinities on conservation ...

Muhammad Alif K. Sahide, Siswandi Siswandi, Nurhady Sirimorok, Micah R. Fisher, Grace Yee Wong, Maria Brockhaus. 2026. The SPA-cube framework: An integrated approach for analysing power dynamics in environmental governance. MethodsX. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mex.2026.103814

This article presents the SPA-Cube Framework, an integrated methodological protocol that addresses key limitations in power analysis for environmental governance. Traditional approaches often employ singular or static lenses, failing to capture power’s multidimensional, dynamic, and governmental nature. Our framework systematically integrates three complementary pillars: Gaventa’s Power Cube (typologizing visible, hidden, and ...

Maria Brockhaus, Ayami Kan, Alain Mfoulou, Samuel Assembe-Mvondo, Aristide Chacgom, Gordon John Thomas, Felicien Kengoum, Daisuke Naito, Helena Varkkey, Grace Y. Wong. 2025. Forest land deals, resistance, and legitimisation – a comparative analysis of discourse coalitions and silent actors in Cameroon and Malaysia. Third World Quarterly. https://doi.org/10.1080/01436597.2025.2555484

Forests and forestlands in the Global South have been claimed for a myriad of interconnected global interests since colonial times, for plantations, concessions for resource extraction and commodity production, and conservation. Resistance to these claims is expressed in discourse, contesting and clashing with often louder, more powerful, legitimations of resource extraction and production. Understanding who argues, how – and ...

Niak Sian Koh, Niina Pietarinen, Alizée Ville, Félicien Kengoum, Grace Wong, Maria Brockhaus. 2025. Follow the money: Can REDD+ finance compete with established and emerging land investments in Mai-Ndombe, Democratic Republic of Congo?. Forest Policy and Economics. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.forpol.2025.103664

Climate finance is often considered an avenue of transformational change to address deforestation. However, financial dynamics influencing forests extend beyond climate related initiatives; forest landscapes are subject to a myriad of actors and interests. This paper examines if and how REDD+ finance can lead to transformative decisions in a complex political landscape of competing land uses, interests, and financial flows in ...

Wai Phyoe Maung, Yoth Vanhnasin, Sithong Thongmanivong, Andi Patiware Metaragakusuma, Alimata Sidibe, Grace Yee Wong. 2025. Rural lives and perceived well-being in commercializing landscapes of northern Laos. Wellbeing, Space and Society. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wss.2025.100320

The government of Laos views agricultural commercialization as a key policy instrument for improving the livelihoods of farm households and contributing to rural development. Recent studies indicate that these commercialization processes are not solely state-driven but are often actively embraced by local communities. Here, we examine how contemporary farming practices in the commercialized landscapes of northern Laos influenc...

Niak Sian Koh, Grace Y. Wong, Thomas Hahn. 2024. Radical incrementalism: hydropolitics and environmental discourses in Laos. Environmental Politics. https://doi.org/10.1080/09644016.2024.2372236

The Nam Theun 2 dam is an influential case of applying safeguards to mitigate social and environmental impacts from hydropower, being used as a model for large dams globally. However, these safeguards have produced mixed results. We examine the role of safeguards in hydropower, and how stakeholders have discussed its use. Based on a literature review and stakeholder interviews, we conduct a discourse analysis of narratives use...

Ayami Kan, Maria Brockhaus, Gordon John, Helena Varkkey, Grace Y. Wong. 2024. Fatal attraction to win–win-win? Debates and contestations in the media on Nature Conservation Agreement in Sabah, Malaysia. Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies for Global Change. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11027-024-10172-y

Contestations around forests and lands have a long history in Sabah, Malaysia and the divergent interests of the ruling State, private business and indigenous and local peoples have played out in narratives shaping policies and debated in media since colonial times. Coalition building among actors is one avenue of influencing policy and securing benefits from policy outcomes. Here, we examine print media related to the Nature ...

Grace Y. Wong. 2024. Transforming Borneo: From Land Exploitation to Sustainable Development. Chun Sheng, Gohand, LesleyPotter. ISEAS‐Yusof Ishak Institute. 2023. Singapore Journal of Tropical Geography. https://doi.org/10.1111/sjtg.12557

Grace Yee Wong, Mawa Karambiri, Thu Thuy Pham, Alizée Ville, Tuan Long Hoang, Chi Dao Thi Linh, Andrea Downing, Amanda Jiménez-Aceituno, Maria Brockhaus. 2024. When Policies Problematize the Local: Social-Environmental Justice and Forest Policies in Burkina Faso and Vietnam. Forest and Society. https://doi.org/10.24259/fs.v8i1.34276

We examine social-environmental justice in forest governance by asking who is problematized as drivers of deforestation and forest degradation. We adapt Bacchi’s “What is the problem represented to be” approach to the community forest (CAF) model in Burkina Faso and the Payment for Forest Environmental Services (PFES) in Vietnam and examine the implementation of these policies in specific sites through disaggregated focus grou...

Paula Andrea Sánchez García, Grace Yee Wong. 2024. The political economy of deforestation in the Colombian Amazon. Journal of Political Ecology. https://doi.org/10.2458/jpe.5230

The Colombian Amazon has experienced rapid forest loss in the past decades due to growing colonization, infrastructure development, and commercial agriculture expansion. While much of the analyses of deforestation in the Amazon have been in Brazil, there is a need to extend to Colombia where forest and land use exploitation are driven by post-conflict social and political dynamics. This research contributes to this knowledge g...