Forest resources and institutions

Forest resources and institutions

Descripción

In some places forests and trees are disappearing; in others, tree cover is increasing. What creates the incentives to foster and manage, or to cut and run? What creates disincentives to invest time and other resources in tree and forest management? Many governments, projects, communities, and organizations are struggling with questions about how to create the enabling conditions for improved short- and long-term local livelihoods and public services through effective management of forest areas. In a global environment of great economic and political change, there is also growing interest within many national governments to change property rights radically. This raises a number of concerns for forests that need to be managed in larger units, than say agricultural land, if they are to produce the variety of products and environmental outputs desired by the various interested persons and groups. When is it most effective to vest the management of forests in local community members as ind ividuals or as groups, and under what conditions will industries or government agencies manage the resource more effectively to reach production, social, and environmental goals? Throughout the 1990s, member governments sent requests to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) for organizational and technical support for forest management, as well as for advice about appropriate forestry resource policies, legal frameworks, and market orientation.