Bas Arts holds a MSc in Biology (1987) and a PhD in the Policy Sciences (1998). Currently, he is Professor at the
Forest and Nature Conservation Policy Group at
Wageningen University and Research Centre, the Netherlands.
His professional focus is on new modes of governance in forest and biodiversity policies and in natural resource management at various levels of the spatial and administrative scales (from the local to the global).
Current projects include: illegal logging in Ghana, participatory forest management in Tanzania and India, forest policy in Vietnam and Ethiopia, nature policy in the European Union, REDD policy at global level and forest-people dynamics in the Amazon.
Arts (co)produced over 100 academic publications, including journal papers, book chapters, edited volumes, and research reports (e.g. in
International Political Science Review, European Journal of International Relations, Policy Sciences, Quality & Quantity and Journal of European Public Policy).
In the first half of 2002, Arts was affiliated as a guest researcher to the
Max Planck Institute on Common Goods in Bonn, Germany. The last couple of years, he was able – both as principal applicant and as co-submitter – to successfully acquire NWO grants (with
Shifts in Governance, LOICZ, GaMON and
Contested Democracy), EU grants (with the
Fifth Framework Program) and professional research projects (with Ministries, their research institutes and the environmental planning bureau).
Currently, Arts is supervising over 20 PhD students; 14 of his earlier PhD students graduated in the period 2006-2011. Also, he is visiting professor at the
College of Europe in Brugge (Belgium), 2010 visiting professors at the BOKU University of Life Sciences in Vienna (Austria), editor of the
Ashgate series
Non-State Actors in International Law, Governance and Politics, editorial board member of the
Journal of Forest Policy and Economics, member of the Research Committee 36 on power of the
International Political Science Association, co-ordinator of the Research Group on ‘Forest Governance’ of the
International Union of Forestry Research Organization (IUFRO), member of the
Global Forest Expert Panel on the International Forest Regime of the
Collaborative Partnership on Forests, program director of the international executive education course
Sustainable Development Diplomacy (SDD) annually taught with the
Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy (Tufts University, Boston Ma., USA) and board member of
Wageningen Graduate School on the Social Sciences (WASS), of
Tropenbos International and of the Dutch
CERES Graduate School.