<Chapter 3> New agendas, old habits in Amazonian forest policies

Abstract

The forest sector has experienced profound changes worldwide since the 1990s. Property rights over forest lands have been devolved to resident populations. Over 60 countries with large extension of tropical forests have decentralized their government processes, including forest decision making. Where decentralization has occurred, local people have gained a voice in local government, which in theory extends to forest decision making. Forests have also gained a new role as a contributor to rural development and community forestry has expanded as a result. This chapter reviews the unfolding of those trends in the Amazon region, in particular in Bolivia, Brazil and Peru. While important progress has been made in devolution of forest property rights, forest decision making is still largely in the hands of specialized agencies. However, often through grass roots organizations and NGOs, local interests are being taken into account. Communal forestry is increasing, but still at a rather slow pace. The old political habits slow down progress in forest governance reform. The timber industry continues to expand, and in the entire region illegal timber extraction exceeds legal extraction. Forest regulation is designed mainly for a timber sector forest exploitation model, and governments impose excessively complicated and expensive administrative requirements on the new forest users. National political struggles in Bolivia and neoliberal economic policies in Peru undermine the progress that Amazon countries have made in their reform of forest policy.