Peruvian Amazon Community Forestry

Community forestry programs like the one reported here by the Peruvian Times, a good online English-language newspaper that reports on Peru-related affairs, often receive great press initially, but then don't pan out as well as initial reports suggest. The article reports that community-held lands will be divided into smaller lots, then managed systematically.

It's not clear if the "division" of the community preserve reported in the article will involve granting private property rights to individual citizens or if the division into lots is just part of a management plan in which the land will remain community-owned and managed--this is a key issue, as are the details of the management system. I've seen situations in which the division of community lands have generated both good and bad outcomes, and I've also seen situations in which the communal management has been both successful and unsuccessful.

The important thing is the details around how decisions about land use are made, who makes the decisions, who is entrusted with enforcement, and how the profits from land management are allocated. If the same people who pay the costs receive the benefits, then things are much more likely work out. If, however, the people who pay the costs of enforcement don't receive the benefits, they simply won't hold up their end of the bargain.

One problem in Peru is that central government authorities often receive the benefits of (costly) actions (such as enforcement) which are palmed off on local authorities. If the local authorities don't receive the benefits of enforcement, however, they're unlikely to be motivated to bear the costs. The same is true in the opposite situation--if the locals accrue the benefits of local forestry but the national government is supposed to enforce the rules, it's unlikely that they'll be motivated to do so.

New Pictures Up

Hey all,

I've put up links to two new Picasa photo albums--all from Chavín. The links are over in the sidebar. Take a look.