Conflicts and communal forest management in northern Bolivia Wil de Jong a, * , Sergio Ruiz b , Michel Becker b a Japan Center for Area Studies, National Museum of Ethnology, 10-1 Senri Expo Park, Suita, Osaka, 656-8511, Japan b Markets and Marketing Section, Institute of Forest and Environmental Policy, University of Freiburg, Tennenbacher Str. 4, D-79106 Freiburg, Germany Abstract Forest exploitation has been the main economic driver in the northern Bolivian Amazon. The country enacted changes in legislation and policies affecting natural resource governance. These changes increase the control of the forestry sector by rural communities. Conflicts characterize these changes. The contestation is about forests and forest lands, and actors pursue increased control by assuring property rights. The paper shows that economic and political elites try to obtain control over forests trying to adjust to the legislation that favors communal forestry. The state has an important role in assuring that the promotion of CFM achieves its intended goals but will need to increase facilitating investments to achieve the objectives of legislation and policies. To some extent, local communities are able to find alliances that allow them to mobilize necessary assistance and further their own objectives. D 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. Keywords: Northern Bolivian Amazon; Communal forestry; Brazil nuts; Natural resource conflicts; Forest governance 1. Introduction Development and conservation experts and indi- genous rights advocates have embraced communal forest management (CFM) to improve rural liveli- hoods. CFM allows communities to benefit from for- ests and its resources, as opposed to outside entrepreneurs or economic and political elites. By acquiring rights over natural resources, and related increase in organizational strength, communities also improve participation in democratic processes. Com- munal control over forests decreases the opportunities of non-locals to engage in destructive forest use, resulting in a positive conservation impact of CFM. Promotions of CFM differ in the rights, assistance and conditions of forests given to communities, and the social, economic and political environment in which this happens (Edmund and Wollenberg, 2003). Promotion of CFM often coincides with decen- tralization reforms or poverty alleviation initiatives (Ferroukhi, 2003). Official embracing of CFM is not always supported by the state agencies that controlled the forestry sector. Lower levels of governments have little experience or interest to favor CFM. Commu- nities themselves may turn to accelerated exploitation 1389-9341/$ - see front matter D 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.forpol.2005.08.011 * Corresponding author. Tel.: +81 6 6878 8290. E-mail address: wdejong@idc.minpaku.ac.jp (W. de Jong). Forest Policy and Economics 8 (2006) 447 – 457 www.elsevier.com/locate/forpol