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Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin - Ressourcenökonomie

Dr. rer. pol. Flavio Pinto Siabato

Post doc

 

 

portrait

Address


 

Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin
Faculty of Agriculture and Horticulture
Department of Agricultural Economics
Division of Resource Economics
Philippstr. 13

D-10099 Berlin

Germany

Phone

+49-30-2093- 6296

Phone

+49-461-8052585

Fax

+49-30-2093-6497

Email

flavio (at) uni-flensburg.de

 

Research Interests


The Enforceability of Human-Nature Systems’ Interactions

“Environmental governance involves the establishment and enforcement of governance institutions for the resolution of environmental conflicts” (Young 1994:15).

Flavio Pinto

Introduction

Can environmental governance be enforced effectively? One problem of enforceability is political economic: the difficulty to institute enforceable regimes. This is evident at the unwillingness of parties to sign enforceable contracts (e.g. the Kyoto protocol), institutional frictions within national regimes hampering the mandates of international regimes (e.g. institutional harmonization for the implementation of Rio conventions), or the incapability of signed agreements to stop effectively the dismantling of ecosystems (e.g. the Roundtable for Sustainable Palm Oil). These examples show that problems of bargaining, free riding, fit and institutional interplay (Young 2002) hinder the implementation of enforceable agreements. However, other factors also affect the enforceability of environmental governance: the properties of human-nature interactions conforming human-nature activities (Schlager and Ostrom 1992, Hagedorn 2008); changes of resources or natural systems, and the dynamics of institutional (mal)adaptation. This research aims to explore the implications, of both, the properties of human-nature interactions and the (mal)adaptation of institutions on the enforceability of environmental governance. This research pursues the understanding of enforceability considering institutional and evolutionary aspects, based on Transaction Cost Economics (TCE) and the Theory of Complex Systems (TCS).

Research Approach

This research aims at further integration of TCE with TCS for analyzing enforceability of environmental governance. The integration is appealing and necessary: from the point of view of TCE, as the factors affecting enforceability are internal and external to interactions, their governance structures or higher hierarchies; and from the point of view of TCS, as the dynamics of the system is affected by how interactions and governance structures of different scales assemble and reconfigure with changes. More precisely, when a human-nature interaction occurs (e.g. a tree is cut down), it becomes apparent how a regime of nested institutions performs (Ostrom 2005:825). Regimes establish rules and conditions for interactions. These rules would work perfectly if coalescence of the system’s elements were unfeasible (Marengo et al. 2005). Yet, human systems organize and evolve around modular forms (farms, firms, groups, governments, unions) (Simon 1962) forming hierarchies (Simon 1974). Interactions don’t occur according to the mandates of higher hierarchies because how interactions are completed and which elements of the system are enabled to interact, also depends on those intermediate arrangements crafted to control or use interactions. This is why enforceability cannot be granted. Modularization affects the properties of the system by clustering and separating interactions. Any property of a regime –e.g. fit–, of hierarchies and modules –stability, size–, or of interactions –enforceability–, is fully decomposable, non-decomposable or quasi-decomposable, depending on how modularization makes it not affectable, fully or partially affectable by events outside the regime, the hierarchy, the module or the interaction (Watson and Pollack 2005).

Academic Career


From June 2004

Wissenschaftlicher Mitarbeiter.

University of Flensburg. Institute for International Management.

Teaching: Microeconomics. An Introduction to Industrial Economics

From February 2009

Post-doc Researcher.

HumboldtUniversity. Division of Resource Economics. Faculty of Agriculture and Horticulture.

Institutions and the Sustainability of Natural Resources

03-08/2009.

Research Fellow. Leibinz Institute for Agricultural Engineering Postdam–Bornim (Germany). Research on Institutions and Biofuels’ Crops

09/2000-07/2001.

Associated Professor (Energy Engineering). Universidad Autónoma de Bucaramanga UNAB, Colombia.

02/1999-07/2000.

Researcher - Project Manager. Research and Development. Development of a Prototype based on Plasma for Upgrading Heavy Crude Oil. Instituto Colombiano del Petróleo ICP. Colombia. Research planning and management, experimental design, prototype design.

06/1996-08/2000.

Researcher. Computation. Fractals. Laboratorio de Cómputo Especializado UNAB. Universidad Autónoma de Bucaramanga, Colombia. Research in applied mathematics and fractal geometry. Software development, characterization and classification of natural forms based in fractal models. Projects with Instituto Colombiano del Petróleo, in the modeling of pore space of sandstones in reservoirs

02/1995-06/1996.

Assistant Professor. (Algebra, Calculus, Statistics) Faculty of Informatics. Universidad Autónoma de Bucaramanga, Colombia.

02/1995-12/1995.

Assistant Professor. Laboratory of Optics for Optometry. Universidad Industrial de Santander, Bucaramanga, Colombia. Lecturing of physical optics for bachelor in optometry.

 

 

Academic Background


Ph.D.

PhD in Economics (Written: Magna Cum Laude; Oral: Summa Cum Laude). Thesis: Economics of Survivor Peasants and the Extension of the Theory of Risk. University of Flensburg, Germany

MSc.

Master of Science in Renewable Energy Systems and Management 2003. Assessment of Energy Need and Potential for Renewable Energies in a Rural Scattered Area of Colombia. University of Flensburg, Germany

MSc.

Master of Science in Computer Science 1998

Thesis: Multifractal Analysis of Sandstones’ Pore Spaces. Technological Institute of Superior Studies of Monterrey (ITESM-UNAB) México-Colombia

Diplom

Physics 1994

Thesis: The Fractal Description of Landscapes and the Revision of the Model of Fractional Brownian Motion. Industrial University of Santander UIS Colombia

Other

Partial Studies in Geology. 1984-1986 Industrial University of Santander UIS Colombia.

Teaching


Course: Microeconomics. University of Flensburg. Bachelor in Management. Winter Semester 2009-10. Together with Pr. Dr. Stephan Panther

 

Course: An Introduction to Industrial Economics. Bachelor in Management. University of Flensburg. Summer Semester 2009.

 

Course: Renewable Energies for Rural Development. Master in Rural Development. Pontificia Universidad Javeriana, Colombia. Second Semester 2006.

 

Lecturer for the Faculty of Energy Engineering. 09/2000-07/2001. Universidad Autónoma de Bucaramanga UNAB, Colombia.

 

Courses: Algebra, Calculus, Statistics. Faculty of Informatics. 02/1995-06/1996. Universidad Autónoma de Bucaramanga, Colombia.

 

Course: Laboratory of Optics for Bachelor in Optometry. 02/1995-12/1995. Universidad Industrial de Santander , Colombia.

Other Activities


Nov. 27-Dic. 4 2009

Workshop on Renewable Energies for the West Indians University of Jamaica. Ocho Ríos, Nov. 28 - Dic. 4. 2009. Advice for Setting Up Master Programs on Energy Engineering, Renewable Energy and Energy Management.

Nov. 12-14 2009

Agadir International Conference: The Integration of Sustainable Agriculture, Rural Development, and Ecosystems in the Context of Food Insecurity, Climate Change and the Energy Crisis. Agadir Morocco, Nov. 12-14. 2009. Conference: The Survivor Risk Behavior of Peasants

Jan-March 2008

Consultancy for FAO-FODEPAL. The Sustainability of the Technology of Biofuels. International Seminar. March 2008. Bogotá. Colombia

20-22/02/2007

Lectures and Advise: for the program "Nachhaltige Energiepolitik- Lateinamerika 2007" (Policies for Sustainable Energy for Latin-America) Inwent. Berlín.

Sept 5-7, 2005

Organizer of the Workshop: Nueva Ruralidad, Institutions and Institutional Design for Sustainable Rural Development in Latin America. Sept 5-7, 2005. Conference: The Peasant Agent. In cooperation with the Institute for Rural Development of Pontificia Universidad Javeriana of Colombia, and with the support of DFG (Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft).

 

 

 

 

 

Awards and Memberships


2006 Order of Merit Rational Use of Energy, Colombia. Category: Research. Proposed by Colciencias and UPME winner of the award. Project: Energías Renovables y Desarrollo Sostenible en Zonas Rurales de Colombia. El Caso de la Vereda Carrizal en Sutamarchán.

1995 Laureate Thesis in Physics

Publications



Publications


Monographs

 

Pinto, F. 2008. La Apropiación Social y Económica de la Tecnología de Biocombustibles, a la Luz de los Objetivos Eestratégicos de Latinoamérica en Energía. Preparado para FAO-Fodepal.

Refereed Journals

Pinto, F., 2004. Energías Renovables y Desarrollo Sostenible en Zonas Rurales de Colombia. el Caso de la Vereda Carrizal en Sutamarchán. Cuadernos de Desarrollo Rural. Vol. 53. pp. 103-32. 2004.

Pinto, F., & Cobaleda, G., 2000 Caracterización multifractal de la porosidad de imágenes de rocas areniscas. Revista Colombiana de Física. Volumen 32. No.1. P. 253-256.

Pinto, F., Arciniegas, N., Cogollo, M., 1995. Descripción Fractal del Relieve: Una Dinámica de Evolución y Revisión de la Interpolación de Ruidos Brownianos. Revista Nacional de Física. Vol. 27. N° 1. Págs. 147-150.

Working Papers, Discussion Papers

Pinto F., Grundmann, P., Irawan, E. 2009. Interactions, Transactions and the Dynamics of Oil Palm Farms.

Pinto, F. 2009. The Survivor Risk Behavior of Peasants.

Pinto, F. 2009. Fractal Multi-farms for Oil Palm Crops, Economic Feasibility and Governance.

Conference Papers

Pinto, F. Biofuels in Latin America: Ownership Models and Social, Environmental and Economic Risks. October 7-9, 2008, Tropentag. Hohenheim.

Pinto, F. Economics and the Survivor Peasant. Workshop: Tagungen des Ausschusses für Entwicklungsländer. 30-31 May 2008. Zurich.

Pinto, F. From Risk-Coping to Consumption Smoothing: For a Suitable Rationale for Survival Economies. Seminario Internacional La Acción Colectiva en los Recursos de Uso Común: Apróximaciones Teóricas y Empíricas. UMASS-Universidad Javeriana. August 15-17/2006.

Pinto, F. Peasant Adaptation to Rural Changes: Land Use, Institutions and Labor Preferences. 10th Annual Workshop on Economic Heterogeneous Interacting Agents 13-15/06/2005 (WEHIA 2005).

 

 

Selected Publications