Why do Some Communities Have Better Forests than Others? The Effects of Self-Governance Institutions on Forest Conditions in Bolivia

Autores: Andersson K., Benavides, JP., Rosario, L., y Uberhuaga, P.
Resumen
A growing body of scholarship on common-pool-resource governance has shown that a tragedy of the commons may be averted through the self-organization of natural resource users. Research on community governance of forests has found a systematic relationship between the strength of self-organized monitoring and enforcement systems and local forest conditions. While our analysis finds support for this general finding, we also show that, in the context of Bolivian rural communities, other aspects of self-governance–such as self-organized rule making and sanctioning—may be just as important for maintaining healthy and stable forests.