Doctoral Dissertation Research in Political Science: Opening Common-Property Forests to Timber Production

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Indigenous groups who have managed and conserved forest lands for centuries are increasingly motivated by policy changes to open their common-property forests for timber production. Forest groups that have made this choice have to compete with other forestry enterprises, while at the same time struggle to solve the social dilemmas that motivate some households to take advantage of others. A cultural anthropology student who specializes in public policy at Indiana University will study which systems of governance can explain why some indigenous forest groups do achieve greater social, economic, and ecological outcomes from timber production. This research will take advantage of the experience of indigenous forest groups from Bolivia, a country with decentralized forestry. This research will assess the influence of commercial policies on indigenous societies' decisions about forest use; compare indigenous forest groups of the Bolivian lowlands to examine to what extent timber use potential and governance incentives yield greater outcomes; and evaluate the meaning of successful commercial community forestry. This will be undertaken using a combination of formal and informal interviews, participant observation, focal groups' workshops, and archival research. By linking institutional analysis to the commercial forestry literature, this proposed research is aimed to provide a more comprehensive understanding of the factors influencing commercial community timber production. This research contributes to public policy designed to help indigenous communities gain more sustainable benefits from timber production. The research will also encourage horizontal debate among groups of forest users to overcome problems encountered in commercial community timber production.