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

几个世纪以来管理和保护森林土地的土著群体越来越受到政策变化的推动，开放其共有森林用于木材生产。做出这种选择的森林集团必须与其他林业企业竞争，同时还要努力解决促使一些家庭利用其他家庭的社会困境。印第安纳大学专门研究公共政策的一名文化人类学学生将研究哪些治理体系可以解释为什么一些土著森林群体确实从木材生产中获得了更大的社会、经济和生态效益。这项研究将利用玻利维亚这个林业权力下放的国家的土著森林团体的经验。这项研究将评估商业政策对土著社会关于森林利用的决定的影响；比较玻利维亚低地的土著森林群体，以检查木材利用潜力和治理激励措施在多大程度上产生更大的成果；并评价成功的商业社区林业的意义。这将采用正式和非正式访谈、参与者观察、焦点小组讲习班和档案研究相结合的方式进行。通过将制度分析与商业林业文献联系起来，本研究旨在更全面地了解影响商业社区木材生产的因素。这项研究有助于制定旨在帮助土著社区从木材生产中获得更多可持续利益的公共政策。这项研究还将鼓励森林使用者群体之间的横向辩论，以克服商业社区木材生产中遇到的问题。

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.