Frank D. Merry

Frank D. Merry
Visiting Assistant Scientist
Woods Hole Research Center
149 Woods Hole Road
Falmouth, MA 02540-1644
Phone: 508-540-9900

Education

Ph.D. - University of Florida
2001, Forest Resources and Conservation

M.Sc. - Virginia Tech
1993, Agricultural and Applied Economics

B.Sc. - University of Florida
1989, Food and Resource Economics

Professional Experience

  • Current: Visiting Assistant Scientist, Woods Hole Research Center; Research Fellow, Dartmouth College, Department of Environmental Studies; Associate Researcher, Instituto de Pesquisa Ambiental da Amazônia
  • 2001 - 2003: Research Scientist in International Forestry, Department of Forestry, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
  • 2001: Consultant, Woods Hole Research Center
  • 2000: Resource Economist, Instituto de Pesquisa Ambiental da Amazônia
  • 1994 - 1999: Graduate Research Assistant, School of Forest Resources and Conservation, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL. Also Consultant and Research Associate, (1996-1998) Bolivia Sustainable Forestry Management Project, BOLFOR (USAID), Santa Cruz, Bolivia.
  • 1993: Agricultural Policy Consultant, Inter-American Development Bank Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago.
  • 1990 - 1992: Graduate Research Assistant, Department of Agricultural Economics, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
  • 1987: Ranch Hand, Hato la Ceiba, Estado Cojedes, Venezuela.

Research Interests

Amazon

•  Large scale models of the timber industry
•  Large scale models of the cattle industry
•  Carbon offset supply curves
•  Economics of small farm systems
•  Economics of floodplain households
•  Forest policy

Africa

•  Impact of park rehabilitation on buffer zone households (Mozambique and Uganda)
•  Economics of land use change (Mozambique and Uganda)
•  Household demand and use of natural resources
•  Carbon offset supply curves (DRC)
•  Large scale models of land use (DRC) Forest policy (DRC)

Selected publications

Bauch, S.C., G.S. Amacher, and F.D. Merry.  Cost of harvest, transport, and milling in the Brazilian Amazon: estimation and policy implications. Forthcoming Forest Policy and Economics.

McGrath, D., O. Almeida, and F. Merry. The influence of community management agreements on household economic strategies: cattle grazing and fishing agreements on the Lower Amazon floodplain. Forthcoming International Journal of Commons.  

Merry, F.D., and G.S. Amacher.  The influence of formal logging contracts on smallholder deforestation and labor decisions in the Brazilian Amazon. Forthcoming in Environment and Development. Ed. Ajit Sinha and Siddhartha Mitra, Routledge Press.

Merry F., G. Amacher, D. Nepstad, P. Lefebvre, E. Lima, and S. Bauch. Industrial development on logging frontiers in the Brazilian Amazon. Forthcoming International Journal of Sustainable Development.

Lima, E., F. Merry, D. Nepstad, G. Amacher, C. Azevedo-Ramos, F. Resque, and P. Lefebvre. 2006. Searching for sustainability: forest policies, smallholders, and the Trans-Amazon highway. Environment. 48:26-37.

Merry, F., G. Amacher, D. Macqueen, M. Guimares dos Santos, E. Lima, and D. Nepstad. 2006. Collective action without collective ownership: community associations and logging on the Amazon frontier. International Forestry Review 8:211-221.

*Nepstad, D., C. Azevedo-Ramos, P. Moutinho, E. Lima, and F. Merry. 2006. Passos para uma política de gestão socioabmiental da indústria madereira da Amazônia. Ciencia & Ambiente 32:45-54.

Sheikh, P.A., F.D. Merry, and D.G. McGrath. 2006. Water buffalo and cattle ranching in the lower Amazon Basin: comparisons and conflicts. Agricultural Systems 87:313-330.

Macqueen, D., L. Figueiredo, F. Merry, and N. Porro. 2005. Stronger by association: strengthening the position of small and medium-scale forest enterprise in the Brazilian Amazon. Participatory Learning and Action 53.

Macqueen, D.J., S. Vermeulen, C. Kazoora, F. Merry, S. Ousman, S. Saigail, S. Wen, and H. Weyerhaueser. 2005. Advancement through association: Appropriate support for associations of small and medium forest enterprise. In How to Make Poverty History: The Central Role of Local Organizations in Meeting the MDGs , ed. T. Bigg and D. Satterthwaite, 79-98. IIED, London, UK.

Merry, F.D., and G.S. Amacher. 2005. Forest taxes, timber concessions, and policy choices in the Amazon. Journal of Sustainable Forestry 20(2):15-44.

Merry, F. D., P. A. Sheikh and D. G. McGrath. 2004. The role of informal contracts in the growth of small cattle herds on the floodplains of the Lower Amazon. Agriculture and Human Values Vol. 21(4) pp. 377-386.

Nepstad, D., C. Azevedo-Ramos, E. Lima, D. McGrath, C. Pereira, and F. Merry. 2004. Managing the Amazon timber industry. Conservation Biology 18:1-3.

Lima, E., A. A. Leite, D. Nepstad, K. Kalif, C. Azevedo-Ramos, C. Pereira, A. Alencar, U. Lopes, and F. Merry. 2003. Florestas Familiares: Um Pacto Sócio-ambiental entre a Indústria Madeireira e a Agricultura Familiar na Amazônia. Instituto de Pesquisa Ambiental da Amazônia (IPAM), Belém, Brazil. 106 pgs.

Macqueen, D., M. Grieg-Gran, E. Lima, J. MacGregor, F. Merry, V. Prochnick, N. Scotland, R. Smeraldi and C. Young. 2003. Growing Timber Exports: The Brazilian tropical timber industry and international markets. IIED Small and Medium Enterprise Series, No. 1. IIED London, UK. 150 pgs.

Merry, F. D., G. S. Amacher, E. Lima, D. C. Nepstad, B. Pokorny, and I. Scholz. 2003. A Risky Forest Policy in the Amazon? Science 299:1843.

Merry, F. D., G. S. Amacher, B. Pokorny, E. Lima, I. Scholz, D. C. Nepstad, and J. C. Zweede. 2003. Some doubts about timber concessions in the Brazilian national forests. Tropical Forestry Update 11(3):7-9.

Zweede, J. C., F. D. Merry, and A. Dias. 2003. Three years after: early stand re-entry in reduced impact logging of neo-tropical forests. International Journal of Forest Engineering Technical note 14(2):102.

Merry, F. D., P. E. Hildebrand, P. Pattie, and D. R. Carter. 2002. An analysis of land conversion from sustainable forestry to pasture: A case study in Santa Cruz, Bolivia. Land Use Policy 19:207-215.

Merry, F. D. and D. R. Carter. 2001. An analysis of the Bolivian mahogany export market with policy implications for the forest sector. Forest Policy and Economics 2:281-291.

Carter, D. R. and F. D. Merry. 1998. The nature and status of certified wood markets in the U.S. Forest Products Journal 48:23-28.

Merry, F. D. and D. R. Carter. 1997. Certified wood markets in the US: implications for tropical deforestation. Forest Ecology and Management 92:221-228.

Nair, P. K. R. and F. D. Merry. 1995. Development of Non-wood Forest Products through Agroforestry: Issues and Strategies. In International Expert Consultation on Non-Wood Forest Products. FAO, Rome, Non-Wood Forest Products Series 3:382-395.