Intersections of Influence: The effects of international NGO interventions on community forestry in southern Peru

• In Event: Food sovereignty, neoregulation, extractivism and community governance

Abstract

Small islands of development dot a sea of intact rainforest across Madre de Dios, Peru, placing it on the front lines of the battle against deforestation and climate change. Here and in the entire Peruvian Amazon, community forest management has emerged as a means of preserving forests while improving livelihoods among indigenous forest communities. Although nearly all community forest management projects in the Peruvian Amazon receive either financial or operational support from international NGOs, little research has been conducted to assess the long-term efficacy of these strategies of engagement.

My paper addresses this gap by critically examining the strategies used by international NGOs to promote community forest management within native Amazonian communities in Madre de Dios: one of the few regions of Peru where native community forest products enter the international market. Using process tracing as a primary methodology, my research project addresses this gap by identifying and analyzing the effects of international engagement on both the success of local community forest management projects and the advocacy for more equitable forest policies on the national level. The project spans the national, regional and local levels through in-depth qualitative interviews with domestic and international NGOs, national and regional government agencies, native communities, local businesses and academics. Based on three months of field research in Peru, this paper analyzes current approaches international NGOs deploy to support community forest management and reveals the synergies and conflicts that emerge on the political stage miles away from the forests they aim to protect.

Author

• Sarah A Lupberger, Yale University