Summary

From 2000 to 2003, the ACM program focused on two villages in the Guarayos TCO (a type of Indigenous Territory) in the Santa Cruz department in collaboration with the USAID funded BOLFOR project.

These Guarayo communities are similar but offer some interesting differences. The village of Cururu was smaller (25 families) and at that point had been settled approximately 10 years earlier. It was beginning its first attempt at timber management.

The village of Salvatierra was larger (approximately 60 families) and had existed for decades having been settled originally by missionaries attempting to convert and enculturate Guarayo and Siriano peoples that had previously occupied the forest. When the ACM work began the Salvatierra residents had broken away from a failed forest management project with the nearby town of Urubicha and were attempting to implement a timber management plan of their own.

The Guarayos TCO had been superimposed on the Guarayos Department, an administrative unit that consists of three separate municipalities. The ACM sites were located in Urubicha municipality where the population was 95% indigenous. The other municipalities to the south are transected by the Santa Cruz - Trinidad interdepartmental highway, which has meant that their populations are more ethnically diverse and there are a wider range of stakeholders competing for control of the territory.

In this region, there are high levels of conflict over land and forest resources (although the ACM sites did not severely affected by these problems during the ACM work), high level of heterogeneity (although the sites are less heterogeneous). Along the highway there are pressure on the forest for conversion to ranch or agriculture lands is high. Guarayos has the highest population growth of any department in Bolivia and it is also one of the poorest. It also is a prime region for timber resources and has been designated an area of Permanent Production Forests.

The following tables summarize conditions at the two sites while ACM activities were actively engaged.

Salvatierra, Guarayos, Bolivia

PAR activities in Cururu and Salvatierra focused on a variety of issues. This included the use of Future Scenarios methods to improve planning for implementing the forest management plans; wage monitoring to develop more efficient and transparent administrative processes; and forest monitoring to evaluate the regeneration of timber species.

After 2003, the project collaboration with BOLFOR ended and direct engagement between the two villages and the ACM program became more sporadic. A series of forthcoming articles will examine the role and influence of the ACM work on the development of these communities and their forest management activities.

Subsequently, the ACM program influenced other work carried out by CIFOR in Bolivia and Latin America. PAR activities were carried out as part of a BMZ funded project assist municipal governments in northern Bolivia to better respond to the needs of forest dependent communities and a SDC funded project to test participatory methods for environmental assessment. This work further developed techniques for using Scenarios for local forest planning but also included methods such as participatory mapping to assist with conflict mediation related to the extraction of non-timber forest products.

Similarly ACM influenced work carried out by CIFOR to understand the emergence of forest based social movements in Brazil, Guatemala and Nicaragua. This work included efforts to identify methods for supporting the development on community based organizations and networks, and PAR was particular influencial in the testing of methods that allowed community level groups to carry out reflective ‘self-studies’ to represent their interests in negotiations with external agencies.

Researchers involved:

Guarayos

• Peter Cronkleton (CIFOR)

• Marco Antonio Albornoz (BOLFOR)

• Tracy Van Holt (University of Florida)

• Omaira Bolaños (University of Florida)

• Robert Keating (US Peace Corps)

• Kristen Evans (US Peace Corps)

Pando

• Peter Cronkleton (CIFOR)

• Marco Antonio Albornoz (CIFOR)

• Kristen Evans (CIFOR)

• Patricia Miranda (CIFOR)

• Rolando Haches (CIFOR)

• Yasmani Zabala (El Sena municipal government)

• Jennifer Kleeb (Frieburg University)

• Amy Duchelle (University of Florida)

• Gladys Guanacoma (intern)

• Liliana Pinto (intern)

Related publications from Bolivia and Latin America

Download related document:
-	Bolivia Site Selection Report and Context Analysis for the Adaptive Collaborative Management Program Center for International Forestry Research
-	Cronkleton, P., C. Gönner, K. Evans, M. Haug, M. A. Albornoz and W. de Jong. (forthcoming). Supporting Forest Communities in Times of Tenure Uncertainty: Experiences from Bolivia and Indonesia. (selected peer reviewed paper) Proceedings - International Conference on Poverty Reduction and Forests: Tenure, Market and Policy Reforms. RECOFTC/Bangkok.
-	Boissière, M., M. Sassen, D. Sheil, M. van Heist, I. Basuki, M. Wan, N. Liswanti, M. Padmanaba, P. Koponen, K. Evans, W. de Jong, P. Cronkleton, T. Lynam, R. Cunliffe. (forthcoming). Local perspectives of biodiversity in tropical landscapes: Achievements, lessons and implications from ten case studies. (chapter) in Lawrence, A. (ed.), Taking Stock of Nature. Cambridge University Press/ Cambridge.
-	Evans, K., Guariguata, M.R. (2008). Participatory monitoring in tropical forest management: a review of tools, concepts and lessons learned. 50p. Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR), Bogor, Indonesia.
-	Evans, K., W. de Jong, P. Cronkleton, T.Huu Nghi. (2008). Participatory Methods for Planning the Future in Forest Communities. Society and Natural Resources (Accepted June 25, 2008).
-	Cronkleton, P., P. Taylor, D. Barry, S. Stone-Jovicich and M. Schmink. (2008) Environmental Governance and the Emergence of Forest-based Social Movements. CIFOR Occasional Paper #49. CIFOR/Bogor.
-	Taylor, P., P. Cronkleton, D. Barry, S. Stone-Jovicich and M. Schmink. ‘If You Saw It with My Eyes’: Collaborative Research and Assistance with Central American Forest Steward Communities. CIFOR Governance Paper #14. CIFOR/Bogor.
-	Wollenberg, L., C. Gönner, P. Cronkleton, K. Evans, W. de Jong, G. Limberg, M. Moeliono, M. Haug, and M. A. Albornoz. (2007) Towards Well-being and Responsive Government in Forest Communities: A source book for local government. CIFOR/Bogor.
-	Cronkleton, P., R. Keating and K. Evans. (2007). Helping Village Level Stakeholders Monitor Forest Benefits. in Guijt, I. (ed.) Negotiated Learning: Collaborative Monitoring for Forest Resource Management. Washington D.C.: RFF Press.
-	Evans, K., S. J. Velarde, R. P. Prieto, S. N. Rao, S. Sertzen, K. Dávila, W. de Jong and P. Cronkleton. (2006) Field Guide to the Future: Four Ways for Communities to Think Ahead. Nairobi: Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR), ASB, World Agroforestry Centre.
-	Cronkleton, P., C. Colfer, C. and O. Bolaños. (2005). Adaptive Collaborative Management in Diverse Contexts, Case 1 Bolivia. in Colfer, C. (ed.) The Complex Forest. Washington D.C.: RFF Press.
-	Cronkleton, P., (2005). Gender, Participation and the Strengthening of Indigenous Forestry Management, in C. Colfer (ed.) The Equitable Forest. Washington D.C.: RRF Press.
-	Bolaños, O., and M. Schmink. (2005). Women’s Place is Not in the Forest: Gender issues in a timber management project in Bolivia, in C. Colfer (ed.) The Equitable Forest. Washington D.C.: RRF Press.
-	Cronkleton, P., and M. Albornoz. (2004). Forestería Comunitaria en Bolivia: Abriendo Horizontes para Nuevos Actores. in Memória: Forum sobre Florestas, Gestão e Desenvolvimento. CIFOR/ Belem, Brazil.
-	Nemarundwe, N. W. de-Jong and P. Cronkleton. (2003) Future Scenarios as an Instrument for Forest Management: Manual for training facilitators of Future Scenarios. CIFOR/Bogor.