Institutional Change and Community Forestry in the Mayan Biosphere Reserve Guatemala

Loading...
Thumbnail Image

Date

2008

Journal Title

Journal ISSN

Volume Title

Publisher

Abstract

"The purpose of the larger study from which this paper draws, was to understand how the current tenure reforms underway in the lowland tropical forests of Guatemala are having an impact on improving or threatening forests and local livelihoods. The research project titled 'Enhancing Livelihoods and Equity in Community Forestry' is being conducted in 10 countries in 30 sites across Latin America, Africa and Asia where recent tenure reforms --transferring rights to local peoples-- are underway and expanding in the forestlands of the global south. While the scale of this process of devolution is considerable-- the amount of forestland has more than doubled in less than 20 years- how the transference of legal rights to local communities is playing out, is not yet well understood. Unraveling the way in which tenure rights can have an impact on the well being of local communities and forests is a complex and non-lineal path of inquiry, reflecting a similar reality. We have chosen to concentrate the initial part of the research on understanding how the shift in the allocation of the 'bundle of rights' to communities and the state set the stage for reaching those dual goals. Differences in the nature of forest tenure reforms, in contrast to agrarian land reforms are also of particular interest to help explain the outcomes and have formed part of the larger study, from which this paper provides input and draws insight."

Description

Keywords

forests--tropics, livelihoods, community forestry, institutional change, IASC

Citation

Collections