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Abstract:
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From Introduction:
"Initial thinking for this paper developed as part of an set of interdisciplinary (social, economic and biological) workshops focused on current problems community-based forestry projects in the Amazon and Yucatan regions of Latin America. The meetings were hosted by the University of Wisconsin's Latin American Studies Program, the Land Tenure Center, the Program on Conservation Biology and Cultural Survival.
"My main question, expanded on the management problems and arose from field observations over the past 5-7 years, was:
"Paralleling a series of community-based forest management projects which suggest local peoples' inability to manage or sustain common resources, why do we now hear strong indigenous proclamations regarding rights to large tracts of land and natural resources throughout the Amazon Basin and part of lowland Central America as well?
"I will argue that problems associated with community-based forestry illustrate political strategies more than technical or administrative failures to manage common property. On the contrary, indigenous peoples are first seeking to redefine the territorial unit of discourse with regard to common property. These projects reflect the changing indigenous politics toward land rights. They also shed light on innovative, non-violent strategies to alter historical patterns of inter-ethnic relations and conflicts. Part of that process involves their efforts to redefine land and resource rights. In brief, the situation illustrates a broad indigenous movement toward political and economic parity as an antecedent to the "institutionalization" of common property management."
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