Suchergebnisse

State devolution has combined with social movement pressures to give communities increasing access and rights to southern forests, making development of effective local participation in sustainable resource management crucial. This paper discusses an experience of participatory research in Central America, which sought to help two grassroots forest organizations, the Association of Forest Communities of Petén, Guatemala and the Farmer to Farmer Programme of Siuna, Nicaragua, to respond to new organizational and political challenges by developing their internal capacity for research and analysis. Community-based 'para-professional' social researchers were trained to carry out studies of their communities' experiences with natural resource management, including strengths, problems and possible response strategies. The collaborative research initiative also encountered problems of inequality, uneven education and skills and concerns with validity. The results of this experience indicate that with appropriate support, community-based research and researchers can help engender collective refl ection, strengthen local organizational capacity and contribute knowledge and analysis in support of forest community movements' efforts to promote local resource rights and more sustainable development.

In recent years governments in the South have transferred at least 200 million hectares of forests to communities living in and around them . This book assesses the experience of what appears to be a new international trend that has substantially increased the share of the world's forests under community administration. Based on research in over 30 communities in selected countries in Asia (India, Nepal, Philippines, Laos, Indonesia), Africa (Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Ghana) and Latin America (Bolivia, Brazil, Guatemala, Nicaragua), it examines the process and outcomes of granting new rights, assessing a variety of governance issues in implementation, access to forest products and markets and outcomes for people and forests . Forest tenure reforms have been highly varied, ranging from the titling of indigenous territories to the granting of small land areas for forest regeneration or the right to a share in timber revenues. While in many cases these rights have been significant, new statutory rights do not automatically result in rights in practice, and a variety of institutional weaknesses and policy distortions have limited the impacts of change. Through the comparison of selected cases, the chapters explore the nature of forest reform, the extent and meaning of rights transferred or recognized, and the role of authority and citizens' networks in forest governance. They also assess opportunities and obstacles associated with government regulations and markets for forest products and the effects across the cases on livelihoods, forest condition and equity

This study adopts an institutional approach to analyze the way in which informal rules, in their interaction with formal rules, shape the use of forest resources by diverse types of smallholders and communities (i.e., indigenous people, agro-extractive and traditional communities) in Latin America. Attention is given to understanding the 'working rules', comprising both formal and informal rules, that individuals use in making their decisions for land and forest resources access and use, which in turn affect benefits generation and distribution from such resources use. The dichotomy between formal and informal institutions take on relative importance, it is their interaction that matters in assessing human behavior. Three areas of behavior that affect forest resource use by smallholders and communities are examined: (1) the interface of formal rules, often contained in written laws, and practiced 'rules of the game' that guide how smallholders and communities control, allocate, legitimize and enforce land and forest tenure rights, (2) local systems for forest resource use and management under the imposition of formal regulations and models, and (3) smallholder interaction with markets influenced by the constraints and opportunities produced by formal regulations. The principal findings suggest that in spite of the fact that many governments have introduced progressive policies intended to benefit rural populations and their forest use, it is questionable the extent to which such policies have actually brought about any real change to benefit communities. Exploring the role of informal institutions, as they interact with formal law, is important to explain these outcomes in practice. This study draws on five case studies that provide evidence supporting this argument. Field research was carried out from 2006 to 2007 in four different countries: Bolivia, Brazil, Guatemala and Nicaragua.

This study adopts an institutional approach to analyze the way in which informal rules, in their interaction with formal rules, shape the use of forest resources by diverse types of smallholders and communities (i.e., indigenous people, agro-extractive and traditional communities) in Latin America. Attention is given to understanding the 'working rules', comprising both formal and informal rules, that individuals use in making their decisions for land and forest resources access and use, which in turn affect benefits generation and distribution from such resources use. The dichotomy between formal and informal institutions take on relative importance, it is their interaction that matters in assessing human behavior. Three areas of behavior that affect forest resource use by smallholders and communities are examined: (1) the interface of formal rules, often contained in written laws, and practiced 'rules of the game' that guide how smallholders and communities control, allocate, legitimize and enforce land and forest tenure rights, (2) local systems for forest resource use and management under the imposition of formal regulations and models, and (3) smallholder interaction with markets influenced by the constraints and opportunities produced by formal regulations. The principal findings suggest that in spite of the fact that many governments have introduced progressive policies intended to benefit rural populations and their forest use, it is questionable the extent to which such policies have actually brought about any real change to benefit communities. Exploring the role of informal institutions, as they interact with formal law, is important to explain these outcomes in practice. This study draws on five case studies that provide evidence supporting this argument. Field research was carried out from 2006 to 2007 in four different countries: Bolivia, Brazil, Guatemala and Nicaragua.

This occasional paper is based on the results of a three-year project examining the emergence of forest-based grassroots movements in Latin America. Funded by the Ford Foundation, the Support to Grassroots Community Forestry Organizations in Central America and Brazil Project sought to understand how grassroots groups develop and influence conservation and development. The project focused on four noteworthy cases in Central America and Brazil, each representing 'successful' broad-based collective action to defend local control and use of forest lands. Cases included the Association of Forest Communities of the Petén in Guatemala, the Siuna Farmerto-Farmer exchange programme in Nicaragua, the Mamirauá Sustainable Development Reserve in the Brazilian state of Amazonas, and the Brazilian rubber tapper movement in Acre. Although the context and outcomes varied, in these cases grassroots collective action to defend local livelihoods emerged when initially weak government institutions attempted to counteract chaotic frontier conditions through the imposition of conservation and development initiatives, provoking local resistance. A combination of indigenous capacity for collective organization and significant external assistance helped produce grassroots forest movements capable of becoming proactive partners in the management and defence of protected areas. These groups still confront external incursions into their hard-won resources rights and strive to respond to changing membership needs. The cases suggest that local communities can become effective forest stewards when acquired rights are duly recognized, avenues exist for meaningful participation, costs and benefits are distributed fairly, and appropriate external support is provided.