From board member Chris Meyer
I recently had the privilege of hearing Elinor Ostrom, the 2009 Nobel Laureate in Economics. She won the Nobel for her analysis of "the commons" and communal decision making.
Her work is pertinent to Planting Empowerment because she has studied community forestry and conservation. Along with various colleagues, she has found that conservation actually increases when control of forests are decentralized. This has been proven through various community forestry programs in Nepal and Mexico that increased conservation by enabling more local control of forests.
Our partnering community Arimae is indigenous, and manages its land communally. Although their land title is now being processed, they have been without legal possession for too long because the Panamanian government didn't recognize collective land rights. This lack of recognition has emboldened loggers and cattle ranchers to encroach on Arimae's land.
Arimae's reserve is roughly 25,000 acres. The community's land management plan sets aside a significant amount of rainforest (about 10,000 acres) for conservation. The rest of the land is distributed to community members. Each receives a roughly 25 acre plot for personal activities such as homesteading, agriculture, and tree planting. Additionally, large tracts of converted land are reserved for projects like Planting Empowerment's mixed species tree plantations, or other larger projects.
Our lease payments and future profit sharing are proving that Arimae can generate significant returns from already cultivated land. This then enables them to invest in conserving the remainder of their rainforest preserve and in other revenue generating activites.
Central government control over forests diminishes the sense of ownership for local forest dwellers. This in turn reduces their incentive to sustainably manage those resources. When the Panamanian government opened up the Darien province for settling, it didn't have the means to control unsustainable colonization. This Google Earth shot tells the whole story. You can see Arimae's forest reserve surrounded by deforested cattle pasture and cropland. Arimae has been battling for its land title for decades. Now finally, the Panamanian government appears committed to granting Arimae full control over its land and resources.
Arimae demonstrates the accuracy of Dr. Ostrom's work on communal decision making - Arimae makes more sustainable choices about land management and resource allocation than the central government. The Panamanian government is waking up to this fact, but too bad the lesson has been so environmentally costly.
