
Luca Tacconi
Luca Tacconi was trained in Ecological Economics and is an Emeritus Professor of Environmental Governance. His research focuses on the economic, political, and social factors that drive environmental change – resulting in loss of biodiversity and climate change – and their implications for rural livelihoods and poverty. He conducts research on environmental governance, corruption, social and economic aspects of deforestation and climate change.
Emeritus Professor Tacconi serves on the editorial board of the journals Environmental Governance and Policy, and Forest Policy and Economics. He has been a visiting scholar at Yale University, and the University of Copenhagen funded by an European Commission Fellowship on Sustainable Tropical Forestry.
He has held the positions of Associate Dean (Education) and Associate Dean (Research) in the College of Asia and the Pacific, and Director of the Resources, Environment & Development group in the Crawford School. In the latter role he established the Master of Climate Change, together with the Fenner School.
He has worked on research and development activities funded by the Australian Research Council, the Australian Center for International Agricultural Research, the Australian Agency for International Development, the Department for International Development (UK), the European Commission, The World Bank, the United Nations Development Programme, the United States Agency for International Development, the Government of Japan, the South Pacific Regional Environmental Program. He has also collaborated with government and non-government organisations such as the Ministry of Forestry of Indonesia, the Ministry of Forestry of Vanuatu, The Nature Conservancy, Transparency International, and the World Wide Fund for Nature.
Positions prior to his appointment to the ANU include Senior Scientist at the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR) in Indonesia (2001-2005), Rural Development Adviser with the Australian Agency for International Development (1998-2001), and Economist with the Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics (1996-1998).
Research Interest
Current research projects include:
-Improving community fire management and peatland restoration in Indonesia
Past research projects include:
-Enhancing smallholder benefits from Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation in Indonesia
- Improving governance, policy and institutional arrangements to reduce emissions from deforestation and degradation (REDD) in Indonesia
-Governance and Economic Incentives for Reducing the Contribution of Tropical Deforestation to Climate Change
Teaching
Books
- Irawan, S., L. Tacconi. (2016). Intergovernmental Fiscal Transfers, Forest Conservation and Climate Change. Edward Elgar, Cheltenham.
- Tacconi, L., S. Mahanty, H. Suich eds (2010). Payments for Environmental Services, Forest Conservation and Climate Change: Livelihoods in the REDD?. Edward Elgar, Cheltenham.
- Tacconi, L. ed. (2007). Illegal Logging: Law Enforcement, Livelihoods and the Timber Trade. Earthscan Publications, London.
- Tacconi, L. (2000). Biodiversity and Ecological Economics: Participation, Values, and Resource Management. Earthscan Publications, London.
Selected journal articles
- Tacconi, L., D.A. Williams (2020). Corruption and anti-corruption in environmental and resource management. Annual Review of Environment and Resources, 45: 305-329.
- Tacconi, L., ., Muttaqin, M.Z. (2019). Reducing emissions from land use change in Indonesia: An overview. Forest Policy and Economics, 108:
- Tacconi, L., R.J. Rodrigues, A. Maryudi (2019). Law enforcement and deforestation: lessons for Indonesia from Brazil. Forest Policy and Economics, 108:
- Tacconi, L., Muttaqin, M.Z. (2019). Institutional architecture and activities to reduce emissions from forests in Indonesia. Forest Policy and Economics, 108:
- Resosudarmo, I.A.P., L. Tacconi, S. Sloan, F.A.U. Hamdani, Subarudi, I. Alviya, M.Z. Muttaqin (2019). Indonesia’s land reform: implications for local livelihoods and climate change. Forest Policy and Economics, 108:
- Watts, S.D, L. Tacconi, S. Irawan, A.H. Wijaya. (2019). Village transfers for the environment: lessons from community-based development programs and the Village Fund. Forest Policy and Economics, 108:
- Watts, S.D, L. Tacconi, N. Hapsari, S. Irawan, S. Sloan, T. Widiastomo (2019). Incentivising compliance: evaluating the effectiveness of targeted village incentives for reducing forest and peat fires. Forest Policy and Economics, 108:
- Meehan, F., L. Tacconi, K. Budiningshi (2019). Are national commitments to reducing emissions from forests effective? Lessons from Indonesia. Forest Policy and Economics, 108:
- Irawan, S., T. Widiastomo, L. Tacconi, J..D. Watts, B. Steni (2019). Exploring the design of jurisdictional REDD+: The case of Central Kalimantan, Indonesia. Forest Policy and Economics, 108:
- Tacconi, L. (2018). Indonesia’s NDC bodes ill for the Paris Agreement. Nature Climate Change, 8:842.
- Aisbett, E., P. Doupe, L. Tacconi (2017). Dynamic adjustment and the specification of empirical economic models of deforestation. Environment and Development Economics, 22(4): 470-489.
- Wijedasa, L.H. et al. (2017). Denial of long-term issues with tropical peatland agriculture. Global Change Biology, 23: 977-982.
- Downs, F., L. Tacconi (2017). A framework to assess the impacts of corruption on forests and prioritize responses. Land Use Policy, 60: 113-122.
- Tacconi, L. (2016). Preventing fires and haze in Southeast Asia. Nature Climate Change, 6(7) 640-643.
- Milne, M., S. Milne, F. Nurfatriani, L. Tacconi (2016). How is global climate policy interpreted on the ground? Insights from the analysis of local discourses about forest management and REDD+ in Indonesia. Ecology and Society. 21 (2):6 [online] URL: http://www.ecologyandsociety.org/vol21/iss2/art6/
- Cerutti, P.O., Lescuyer, G., Tacconi, L., Eba’a Atyi, R., Nasi, R., Tabi Eckebil, P.P., Tsanga, R. (2016). Social impacts of the Forest Stewardship Council certification in the Congo Basin. International Forestry Review. Available online 1 June 2016.
- McGregor, A., E. Challis, P. Howson, R. Astuti, R. Dixon, B. Haalboom, M. Gavin, L. Tacconi, S. Afiff. (2015). More than carbon? REDD+ governmentality in Indonesia. Environment and Planning A, 47(1) 138 – 155.
- Cacho, O., R. Gonzalez, S. Milne, L. Tacconi (2014). Benefits and costs of deforestation by smallholders: Implications for forest conservation and climate policy. Ecological Economics, 107: 321-332.
- Irawan, S., L. Tacconi, I. Ring. (2014). Designing intergovernmental fiscal transfers for conservation: The case of REDD+ revenue distribution to local governments in Indonesia. Land Use Policy, 36: 47-59.
- Tacconi, L., S. Mahanty, H. Suich. (2013). The livelihood impacts of payments for environmental services and implications for REDD. Society and Natural Resources, 26:733-744.
- Cerutti, P.O, L. Tacconi, G. Lescuyer, R. Nasi. (2013). Cameroon’s Hidden Harvest: Commercial Chainsaw Logging, Corruption and Livelihoods. Society and Natural Resources, 26(5): 533-59.
- Irawan, S., L. Tacconi, I. Ring. (2013). Stakeholders’ incentives for land use change and REDD: the case of Indonesia. Ecological Economics, 87: 75-83.
- Mahanty, S., H. Suich, L. Tacconi (2013). Access and benefits in payments for environmental services and implications for REDD plus: lessons from a review of eight PES schemes. Land Use Policy, 31: 38-47.
- Tacconi, L. (2012). Redefining payments for environmental services. Ecological Economics, 73(1): 29-36.
- Tacconi, L. (2011). Developing environmental governance research: The example of forest cover change studies. Environmental Conservation, 38(2): 1-13.
- Cerutti, P., L. Tacconi, R. Nasi, G. Lescuyer (2011). Legal vs certified timber: preliminary impacts of forest certification in Cameroon. Forest Policy and Economics, 13(3): 184-190. » view publication [PDF, 410KB]
- McCarthy, S., L. Tacconi (2011). The political economy of tropical deforestation: assessing models and motives. Environmental Politics, 20(1): 115 – 132.
- Cerutti, P.O., G. Lescuyer, S. Assembe-Mvondo, L. Tacconi (2010). The challenges of redistributing forest-related monetary benefits to local governments: A decade of logging area fees in Cameroon. International Forestry Review, 12(2): 130-138.
- Irawan, S., L. Tacconi (2009). Reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD) and decentralized forest management. International Forestry Review, 11(4): 87-98.
- Tacconi, L. (2009). Compensated successful efforts for avoided deforestation vs compensated reductions. Ecological Economics, 68(8-9): 2469-2472.
- Cerutti, P., R. Nasi, L. Tacconi (2008). Sustainable forest management in Cameroon needs more than approved forest management plans. Ecology and Society, 13(2): 36. online
- Cerutti, P., L. Tacconi (2008). Forests, illegality and livelihoods: the case of Cameroon. Society & Natural Resources, 21(9): 845-853.
- Tacconi, L., F. Jotzo, R.Q. Grafton (2008). Local causes, regional co-operation and global financing for environmental problems: the case of Southeast Asian Haze pollution. International Environmental Agreements: Politics, Law and Economics, 8(1):1-16.
- Tacconi, L. (2007). Decentralization, forests and livelihoods: theory and narrative. Global Environmental Change, 17(3-4): 338-348.
- Tacconi, L., P.F. Moore, D. Kaimowitz (2006). Fires in tropical forests – what is really the problem? Lessons from Indonesia. Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies for Global Change Journal, 12(1): 55-66.
- Tacconi, L., A.P. Vayda (2006). Shifting cultivation and fires in Indonesia: A comment. Ecological Economics, 56(1): 1-4.
- Tacconi, L. and Y. Ruchiat (2006). Livelihoods, fire, and policy in Eastern Indonesia. Singapore Journal of Tropical Geography, 27: 67-81.