| European
Tropical Forest Research Network |
THE IMPACT OF DECENTRALISED FOREST GOVERNANCE: A CASE STUDY FROM BOLIVIA
By Wil de Jong, Michel Becker, Sergio Ruiz and Carmen Gottwald
The last decade has seen profound overhauls of governance in many tropical countries. Countries have adopted new economic policies, under considerably influence from free-market thinking and a reduced regulatory role of the state and its subsidiaries. This coincided with widespread decentralisation of government, including natural resource governance. Bolivia is famous primarily for its Andean uplands, but substantial parts of its territory are tropical forests. The economy of the northern part of the country, in particular, relies for a large part on income from forest products like Brazil nuts and timber.
Regulatory framework
During the 1990s, Bolivia enacted a set of new national laws that are affecting
forest products-based industries. The principal laws are several decentralisation
laws, a new land reform law and a new forestry law. The new regulatory framework
has resulted in a progressively larger ownership of forest land and forests
by rural communities. The impact that this has had on people's livelihoods is
still not entirely clear. In northern Bolivia, there is evidence that conflicts
over natural resources are increasing. There is also evidence that some of the
feudal dependency relations that existed before the programme of legal reform
are adapting to the new legal framework instead of disappearing. A new type
of timber tycoons replaced the rubber and Brazil nut barons from earlier days.
The local communities, new owners of forests, still have inadequate skills,
knowledge and leverage that free them from the patronage of these new rulers
of the north. Political patronage by people seeking votes for public office
dominates village level politics in many locations and hinders the true democratisation
of rural Bolivia.
Prospects
Despite these initial shortcomings, the decentralisation of natural resource
governance has had recognisable positive outcomes. The fact that local people
are to be the legal owners of about half of the northern Bolivia forest region
means new opportunities will be created that did not exist before. Besides income
from Brazil nuts and other forest products, local communities will now increasingly
be able to enjoy benefits from timber. Providing that illegal logging can be
controlled, this also opens the way for sustainable forest production. However,
the envisioned positive impact will need more time than initially expected.
Further information:
Dr Wil de Jong (w.de-jong@cgiar.org),
CIFOR, Bogor, Indonesia
Dr Michel Becker (marktmarketing@ifp.uni-freiburg.de),
Sergio Ruiz (sergioantonioruiz@hotmail.com)
and Carmen Gottwald (carmengottwald@gmx.net),
Institute for Forest Policy: Markets and Marketing, University of Freiburg,
Germany