Behind the headlines about the loss of tropical forests in Latin America lies a complex and fascinating story of the social pressures which cause it. Trees, People and Power looks at the various groups, interests and conflicts involved, and explores the repercussions for forestry, the environment and the livelihoods of the rural and urban poor. Until the social and political dimensions of deforestation and forest protection schemes are understood, measures to prevent or slow deforestation are likely to involve technical interventions which will prove ineffective in the long run, and may well result in further impoverishment and environmental degradation. Peter Utting takes a critical look at the experience of forest protection and tree planting in a number of countries and considers how social and political factors affect the feasability of such schemes. Many environmental projects and programmes have failed to balance concerns for the environment with those of human welfare. Until they do, it is unrealistic to expect any significant progress towards sustainable development. Peter Utting is a senior researcher coordinator with the United Nations Research Institute for Social Development. He is the author of Economic Adjustment under the Sandinistas (UNRISD, 1991) and Economic Reform and Third World Socialism (Macmillan, 1992). Originally published in 1993

List of illustrationsAcknowledgementsIntroductionPart I: Deforestation and Unsustainable Development1. Central America: Ecological and Socio-economicCharacteristicsDeforestation and Environmental Degradation2. Causes of Deforestation: The Processes and Players InvolvedDeforestation and Agro-export DevelopmentAgrarian Frontier ColonizationThe Cattle BoomLoggingThe Expansion of Export CropsInfrastructural DevelopmentFuelwood and Urbanization3. Structural and Policy Determinants of DeforestationAgrarian Structure and Land TenureGovernment Policy and LegislationDeforestation in the 1980s and 1990s: War, Agrarian Reform, Recession and AdjustmentPart II: The Breakdown of Traditional Resource Management SystemsOverview4. Deforestation and Indian PopulationsCentral America's Indian PopulationState Policy and Indian RightsEncroachment in Tropical Rainforest AreasIndians, Graziers and Colonization in Costa RicaIndians and Logging Companies in Nicaragua5. Deforestation and Livelihood in Guatemala's Western HighlandsThe land Tenure System and the Demise of Communal Protection MechanismsThe Crisis of Petty Commodity Production and Subsistence Provisioning6. Deforestation and Shifting Peasant AgricultureDeforestation and Land Colonization in PanamaMigratory Agriculture in NicaraguaPart III Forest Protection and Tree Planting InitiativesOverview7. The Conservationist Approach: National Parks and ReservesProtected Area Schemes8. Protected Area Schemes and Social Conflict in Costa RicaTwo Case Studies: The Carara Biological Reserve and the Osa Peninsula9. The Project Approach: Reforestation, Sustainable Logging, Agroforestry and Social Forestry SchemesReforestationSustainable Forest ManagementAgroforestry and Social Forestry Schemes10. Programme and Project Implementation: Concrete Experiences from El Salvador, Guatemala andHondurasCommunity Nurseries Programme in El SalvadorReforestation and Agroforestry Projects in Totonicapin, GuatemalaThe Honduran Social Forestry System11. Alternative Approaches: Revolutionary Change and Grassroots MobilizationRadical Structural Change: Agrarian Reform and Human Resettlement in Rio San Juan, NicaraguaGrassroots MobilizationDeforestation and Forest Protection in Huehuetenango, Guatemala12. Social and Political Dimensions of Forest ProtectionSocial and Political Economy ConcernsExternal InterventionsSocial Forces and Local Level StructuresGrassroots Organization and MobilizationAnnex 1 Case Studies, Theme Papers and ResearchersNotesAbbreviations and AcronymsBibliographyIndex