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See the wood, not the trees |
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The major cause of deforestation is not the economically strong exploiting the weak. It is the indigenous poor themselves being forced off the land into the forests.
Marcus Colchester argues that collective land tenure is a solution In the 1980s the World Bank sponsored land titling of Maasai livestock ranges in Kenya. This led to the emergence of a wealthy tribal elite, who pushed the majority off their ancestral lands and into penury.
At least one disillusioned Maasai concluded that land titles are just a licence to sell land.
Individual land titling in the highlands of Guatemala also led to growing landlessness, leaving many peasants facing poverty. In desperation their solution was to migrate to the lowlands where they had to clear forests before they could set up their farms.
The basic fact these examples highlight is that with no guaranteed access and control of resources the poor cannot afford to improve their lands and other properties.
Bitter experience shows that should they be able to improve their land, the more powerful players in the global economy strip them of their assets. That said, in many cases collective holdings have sustained indigenous peoples for generations.
Historically it is the breaking up of these holdings into individually owned plots that has led to the fragmentation of these cultural groups.
For example, the Dawes Act in the USA in the 19th century, which parcelled up Native American reserves into family small-holdings, led the native Americans to lose lands faster to incoming settlers and land speculators than they had over the previous 100 years.
A note of optimism can be found in some long-term research in Central Africa. This has shown how customary tenure regimes provide more equitable access to resources than individual land holdings systems.
Customary tenure provides the basis for social solidarity networks that cushion farmers against natural disasters and upsets in family circumstances. Rather than break up these sophisticated systems of land holding, the necessity is for governments to recognise and secure collective tenures something that international law already requires.
In the Amazon, indigenous peoples have made much progress in this direction. Over 20 million hectares in Colombia have now secured resguardos collectively-owned permanent, inalienable and unmortgageable properties.
The argument ranged against such an arrangement is that this sort of tenure blunts the entrepreneurial spirit and provides obstacles to investment.
Development agencies, like the International Fund for Agricultural Development, argue that micro-credit schemes are a far better way of promoting small-scale improvements in rural livelihoods, than setting futures in jeopardy by using land as collateral to secure loans from banks or money lenders.
These agencies are increasingly accepting that community-based forest management, ranching and protected areas provide viable ways of securing both livelihoods and natural resources.
Marcus Colchester is director of the Forest People Project
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