This occasional paper is the result of research carried out from 2006 to 2008 on the effects of new tenure rights for forest-based communities in Latin America on access to forest resources and benefits. Focused on seven different regions in four countries, the paper examines changes in statutory rights, the implementation of those rights in practice, and the extent to which they have led to tangible new benefits from forests, particularly to new sources of income.

This study adopts an institutional approach to analyze the way in which informal rules, in their interaction with formal rules, shape the use of forest resources by diverse types of smallholders and communities (i.e., indigenous people, agro-extractive and traditional communities) in Latin America. Attention is given to understanding the ‘working rules’, comprising both formal and informal rules, that individuals use in making their decisions for land and forest resources access and use, which in turn affect benefits generation and distribution from such resources use.

The overall objective of this research was to determine whether and how the institutional environment
influences the establishment and performance of Community Forest Enterprises (CFEs) in Bolivia.
This study defines CFEs as organizations that: (1) manage collectively owned forests in name of all
community members and (2) follow forest management regulations established by the 1996 Forest
Law. The theoretical point of departure for this research is that the institutional environment can

A governação florestal em Moçambique é um tema de destaque nos últimos tempos. No final dos anos 90 e início de 2000 houve um movimento intenso no sector florestal para adequar as políticas e o quadro legal sobre a gestão de florestas. Este movimento contribuiu para alinhar as políticas nacionais com os padrões internacionais, particularmente sobre o desenvolvimento sustentável, a partilha de benefícios com as comunidades residentes na floresta, a contribuição do sector florestal para os Objectivos de Desenvolvimento do Milénio, entre outros.

The year 2007–2008 was the final year of the RECOFTC Program Phase 2004–2008. We are pleased to report that the four-year Program Plan was successfully implemented on time, and we fulfilled all the major remaining commitments, even exceeding targets in some areas. This is largely thanks to the generous financial support from the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC), the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida), and the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Forest-based conflict is one of the major global challenges for the international forestry agenda together with poverty, climate change, conservation, and biofuels. In this paper, we will estimate the scope of the problem for people and forests, identify the role of forest rights and tenure as part of the cause of and solution to conflict, and project future challenges.