Growing the Wealth of the Poor - World Resources Institute

G R E E NL I V E L I H O O D SAcross Latin AmericaNeighboring countries with biologically diverse tropical forestsare also taking advantage of the skills and lessons learned bythe Petén’s pioneering enterprises. Following a decade oftraining, the sophisticated technical capacity of communityforesters is so evident that they have been hired as consultantsand trainers in sustainable forest management programs inNicaragua, Panama, and Peru (Chemonics 2006:41). Thecomprehensive 25-year sustainable management plans developedby the enterprises and intermediaries have also produced“technical models worthy of emulation” by forest managersacross tropical regions, according to observers (Nittler andTschinkel 2005:15). The Rainforest Alliance, for example, isalready replicating the concession forest management modelin Honduras, helping to build community enterprise skills andaccess to certified timber markets for 11 villages that manage100,000 ha within the threatened and wildlife-rich RioPlatano Biosphere Reserve (Rainforest Alliance 2006:1).Guatemala’s community enterprises have taken a long timeto become established. In the process, they have becomeincreasingly resilient and better prepared for new external andinternal challenges. Their success in keeping deforestation atbay, raising local incomes and quality of life, and developinginto established businesses is encouraging and offers prospectsand lessons for replication in other tropical regions. Managementresponsibility for 25 percent of the developing world’sforests now lies in the hands of local communities—a figureexpected to double by 2015 (Molnar et al. 2007:19; Carrera2008). This makes identifying and scaling up such localmanagement models, which meet the needs of both people andnature, a compelling and necessary task. 141