Current Research

My current research involves forest and land use governance questions at the local level around El Yunque National Forest in Puerto Rico; national assessment of the political, legal and institutional framework for supporting forest sustainability at the national level, and the influence, impacts, and causal logics of international instruments aimed at reducing illegal logging and enhancing forest sustainability. Through these and other research projects I focus on (1) developing knowledge of laws, regulations, fiscal instruments, and other legal elements intended to influence forested landscape conditions and human dimensions in the American Tropics; (2) identifying and understanding better the means and mechanisms for implementing natural resource and forest policies and their effectiveness in promoting the long-term sustainability of tropical forest systems; and (3) improving understanding of existing and emerging natural resource and forest governance approaches from local to global levels and their capacity to advance the long-term sustainability of ecological, economic, and social forest values. Given the complex and diverse processes involved in natural resource and forest land use decisions, the scientist works across traditional disciplinary and RWU boundaries and collaborates nationally and internationally with a broad range of social and biological scientists.

Research Interests

I am interested in understanding how institutions encourage, shape, and/or debilitate the promotion of publicly important forest values and goals. The main objectives of the individual’s personal research are to evaluate the legal, political, and governance influences on Neotropical natural resource and forest conservation and management, and to develop and contribute new knowledge on those settings and arrangements that best support the sustainability of the region’s forested landscapes. These elements are crucial to good forest governance in the tropics and around the world, but are often overlooked or underappreciated in resource management decisions and are insufficiently studied and understood at local to global levels.

Education

• North Carolina State University, Ph.D. Forest Resources Forest Policy 2008
• CATIE (Centro Agronomico Tropical de Investigacion y Ensenanza), M.S. Forest Resources Tropical Forest Conservation and Sustainable Management 2000
• University of Florida, B.S Forestry Forestry 1996

Professional Experience

Featured Publications & Products

• McGinley, Kathleen; Alvarado, Raquel; Cubbage, Frederick; Diaz, Diana; Donoso, Pablo J.; Jacovine Goncalves, Laercio Antonio; de Silva, Fabiano Luiz; MacIntyre, Charles; Monges Zalazar, Elizabeth. 2012. Regulating the sustainability of forest management in the Americas: Cross-country comparisons of forest legislation.
• Lugo, Ariel. E.; Medina, Ernesto; McGinley, Kathleen. 2014. Issues and challenges of mangrove conservation in the Anthropocene - Desafios de la conservacion del mangle en el Antropoceno.
• Cubbage, Frederick C.; McGinley, K.; Moffat, S.; Lin, L.; Robertson, G. 2012. Implementation of the U.S. legal, institutional, and economic criterion and indicators for the 2010 Montreal Process for sustainable forest management.
• McGinley, Kathleen; Cubbage, F.W. 2011. Governmental regulation and nongovernmental certification of forests in the tropics: policy, execution, uptake, and overlap in Costa Rica, Guatemala, and Nicaragua.
• Bauch, S.; Sills, E.; Rodriguez Estraviz, L.C.; McGinley, K.; Cubbage, F. 2009. Forest policy reform in Brazil.

Publications

• Siry, Jacek P.; Cubbage, Frederick W.; Potter, Kevin M.; McGinley, Kathleen . 2018. Current perspectives on sustainable forest management: North America.
• Quiñones, Maya; Parés-Ramos, Isabel K.; Gould, William A.; Gonzalez, Grizelle; McGinley, Kathleen; Ríos, Pedro. 2018. El Atlas del Bosque Nacional El Yunque.
• Quiñones, Maya; Parés-Ramos, Isabel K.; Gould, William A.; Gonzalez, Grizelle; McGinley, Kathleen; Ríos, Pedro. 2018. El Yunque National Forest Atlas.
• McGinley, Kathleen. 2017. Adapting Tropical Forest Policy and Practice in the Context of the Anthropocene: Opportunities and Challenges for the El Yunque National Forest in Puerto Rico.
• McGinley, Kathleen; Robertson, Guy; Friday, Kathleen; Carpenter, Constance. 2017. Assessing Forest Sustainability in the Tropical Islands of the United States.
• Mcginley, K.A.; Cubbage, F.W. 2017. Examining forest governance in the United States through the Montr al Process Criteria and Indicators Framework.
• McGinley, Kathleen. 2017. Natural resource participation, collaboration, and partnerships.
• Humphreys, D.; Cashore, B.; Visseren-Hamakers, I.J.; De Jong, W.; McGinley, K.; Denvir, A.; Torres, P. Caro; Lupberger, S. 2017. Towards durable multistakeholder-generated solutions: The pilot application of a problem-oriented policy learning protocol to legality verification and community rights in Peru.
• Cashore, B.; Visseren-Hamakers, I.; Caro Torres, P.; de Jong, W.; Denvir, A.; Humphreys, D.; McGinley, Kathleen; Auld, G.; Lupberger, S.; McDermott, C.; Sax, S.; Yin, D. 2016. Can legality verification enhace local rights to forest resources Piloting the policy learning protocol in the Peruvian forest context.
• McGinley, Kathleen. 2016. Human dynamics and forest management: a baseline assessment of the socioeconomic characteristics of the region surrounding the El Yunque National Forest.
• McGinley, Kathleen A.; Cubbage, Frederick W. 2012. Governmental Forest Policy for Sustainable Forest Management in Costa Rica, Guatemala, and Nicaragua: Regulation, Implementation, and Impact.
• Cashore, B.; Galloway, G.; Cubbage, F.; Humphreys, D.; Katila, P.; Levin, K.; Maryudi, A.; McDermott, C.; McGinley, Kathleen. 2010. Ability of institutions to address new challenges.
• Cubbage, F.; Koesbandana, S.; Mac Donagh, P; Rubilar, R.; Balmelli, G; Morales Olmos, V.; De La Torre, R.; Murara, M.; Hoeflich, V.A.; Kotze, H.; Gonzalez, R; Carrero, O.; Frey, G.; Adams, T.; Turner, J.; Lord, R.; Huang, J.; MacIntyre, C.; McGinley, Kathleen; Abt, R.; Phillips, R. 2010. Global timber investments, wood costs, regulation, and risk.

Research Highlights

Highlight	Title	Year
IITF-2015-49	Conserving Mangroves in the Context of the Anthropocene Mangroves of the Anthropocene will be on the move as a result of sea level rise and atmospheric warming as well as human activity and therefore ...	2015
IITF-2011-07	Finding Synergistic Approaches for Complex Forest Issues through Global Forest Governance Despite significant efforts to develop governmental and nongovernmental institutions to address the world's forest problems, there is a sense th ...	2011
IITF-2012-03	Forest Regulations are Rigorous throughout much of the Americas, but Implementation Remains a Challenge in Latin America On paper, Latin America is often stricter on forestry than many States in the United States, but lack of enforcement and compliance continue to ...	2012
IITF-2016-15	Making Management More Adaptive Through Research in El Yunque National Forest Research is an integral part of decision making on the El Yunque National Forest as forest management adopts an adaptive approach to resource pl ...	2016