The Centrality of Social Capital: Forestry and Enterprise Development Among the Indigenous Mayangna of Awas Tingni (North Atlantic Autonomous Region, Nicaragua)
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EVALUATING THE RESULTS OF OUR WORK The Centrality of Social Capital: Forestry and Enterprise Development Among the Indigenous Mayangna of Awas Tingni (North Atlantic Autonomous Region, Nicaragua) Community Forestry Case Studies No. 1/10 November 2015 Benjamin D. Hodgdon Freddy Ramírez Oswaldo Terrero Gloria López Contents Preface 3 Executive Summary 5 Methods 7 The Rainforest Alliance and Community Forest Enterprise 7 The Multilateral Investment Context 8 Fund (MIF), a member of the Autonomy and Indigenous Land Titling in the RAAN 9 Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) The Awas Tingni Community 11 Group, is the largest provider Yamaba Cooperative Structure, Policies and Development 16 of technical assis- tance for private- sector develop- Rainforest Alliance Technical Assistance 18 ment in Latin America and the Assessment of Results 19 Caribbean. Its core beneficiaries include micro Lessons Learned 21 and small busi- nesses, small farms, and poor Recommendations 24 and vulnerable households. It Annex I: References 25 designs and finances pilot projects to test Annex II: Key Informants 25 pioneering approaches to building econom- ic opportunity Acronyms and decreasing poverty. AMASAU Awas Tingni Mayangnina Sauni Umani CAMANIC Cámara de Artesanos y Muebleros de Nicaragua The Rainforest CIDH Inter-American Court for Human Rights Alliance works COTRAFOR Forest Workers Cooperative in Awas Tingni to conserve CW Controlled Wood biodiversity and FSC® Forest Stewardship Council® ensure sustain- GIZ Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit able livelihoods MADENSA Maderas y Derivados de Nicaragua, S.A. by transforming MAPINIICSA Maderas Preciosas Indígenas e Industriales de Nicaragua, S.A. land-use prac- MARENA Nicaraguan Ministry of Natural Resources and the Environment tices, business NAWPI North American Wood Products practices and RAAN North Atlantic Autonomous Region consumer RAAS South Atlantic Autonomous Region behavior. SOLCARSA Sol del Caribe, S.A. www.rainforest UNDP United Nations Development Programme -alliance.org WWF World Wildlife Fund PREFACE Over the last two decades, countries across the trop- based production forestry can be an effective ics have devolved increasing authority over natural approach to conserving forest resources while also forests to local actors. The ability of those actors generating significant social and economic benefits to manage forests sustainably and make forestry a for marginalized communities. At the same time, competitive land-use choice has therefore taken on however, these studies tell a more nuanced story. a growing importance. In response to this changing The diversity of contexts and enterprises represented landscape, a range of efforts around the globe are sheds light on the development of community for- supporting community-based forest management estry in its many forms—towards multiple and some- by working to improve the capacity of local people times contested goals—while chronicling both suc- to manage their natural resources and develop local cesses and failures. As such, each case stands on its enterprise. In spite of the abundance of manuals, own to inform similar cases around the world, while methodologies and other tools to guide technical also forming a part of the broader story this series assistance, there is a relative paucity of systematic tells about the variable trajectories of community analyses of the results of such efforts: experiences, forestry development. lessons learned and recommendations for improv- ing assistance to local forestry development. Although a guiding goal of many projects—including the present one—is to achieve financial sustainability This case study is one of 10 produced under “Forest for community forest enterprise, the importance of Conservation through Certification, Markets and external technical assistance in building local capaci- Strengthening of Small and Medium-sized Forest ties is also clearly fundamental. However, the effec- Enterprise,” a five-year project supported by the tiveness of such assistance is not always optimal, Multilateral Investment Fund (MIF), a member of which is why each case includes an assessment of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) Group. the results of the Rainforest Alliance technical assis- Led by the Rainforest Alliance, the project involves tance that was received. In several cases, insufficient approximately 100 community operations and small data and/or a lack of indicator consistency—not and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Guatemala, to mention confounding external factors (storms, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua and Peru. The project’s market fluctuations, political upheaval and social central aim is to improve local livelihoods through conflict) and the absence of truly scientific controls— sustainable forestry and enterprise development. make it impossible with full confidence to attribute Although the support needs, contexts and develop- change solely to Rainforest Alliance support, espe- ment levels of partner communities vary tremen- cially given the active presence of other actors at all dously, the project’s unifying strategy is to improve project sites. This caveat notwithstanding, it is clear business capacities, market access and financial sup- that, in each case, project interventions produced port for enterprise development in order to secure concrete results. The studies aim to extract lessons sustainable forest management and livelihood from these results and recommend ways forward. development. Finally, while the bulk of these studies have been The case studies in this series were carefully prepared and published by staff of the Rainforest selected to cover all five countries where the proj- Alliance, they would not have been possible without ect is active, and to reflect the full range of partici- the collaboration and dedicated efforts of many oth- pants—from highly incipient community operations, ers including a host of government agencies, civil to second-tier business alliances among multiple society partners, academic institutions and private well-developed, certified enterprises. Special atten- sector actors. Above all, the communities them- tion was also paid to ensuring representativeness selves must be recognized and congratulated for the with respect to forest ecosystems (temperate and time that they invested in assisting with the compi- tropical), tenure arrangement (permanent and con- lation and review of these studies. All contributors cession) and production focus (timber and non-tim- are specifically acknowledged in each separate case ber). In all of the studies, the impact of Rainforest study. Although the contributions of all of these Alliance technical assistance on enterprise develop- actors are fundamental, the content of these studies ment was analyzed, including a critical assessment is the sole responsibility of the Rainforest Alliance, of priorities for future assistance. Beyond enterprise- except where other institutions have taken a co- specific examples, two studies take a more thematic publishing role. approach, analyzing experiences with markets for lesser-known species and financial mechanisms. The table on the following page presents a break- down of the 10 case studies that were produced as Taken together, the 10 studies support the growing part of this project. body of research demonstrating that community- 3 Community No. Case Study Location Key Themes forestry case studies 1 Awas Tingni North Atlantic • Indigenous community forestry community Autonomous • Incipient forest enterprise development Region, • Social and institutional foundations for community Nicaragua forestry 2 Moskibatana non- Muskitia, • Indigenous community forestry timber forest product Honduras • NTFP management and Forest Stewardship Council® (NTFP) enterprise (FSC®) market development • Development of a new forest enterprise 3 Ejido El Largo Chihuahua, • Integrated forestry development planning Mexico • Community forest enterprise competitiveness 4 CAIFUL agroforestry Río Plátano • Local forest enterprise development cooperative Biosphere • Benefits of forest enterprise at the community scale Reserve, Honduras 5 Analysis of forest man- Maya • Impacts of certified community forestry silvicultural agement in community Biosphere and management systems concessions Reserve, • Investments by community enterprises in conserva- Guatemala tion and monitoring 6 Brazil nut production Madre de Dios, • NTFP enterprise development and enterprise Peru • Financial and administrative capacity building 7 TIP Muebles Oaxaca, Mexico • Commercial cooperation among community forest enterprises • Furniture value chain development 8 Tres Islas native Madre de Dios, • Indigenous community forestry community Peru • Landscape approach • Incipient forest enterprise development 9 Building markets for Maya • Development of new markets for lesser-utilized com- lesser-known species Biosphere mercial timber species Reserve, • Diversification of a second-tier community forestry Guatemala business model 10 Financial mechanisms Regional • Design, operation and impacts of mechanisms to for community forest increase forestry producer access to credit enterprises 4 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The Centrality of Social Capital: Forestry and Enterprise Development Among the Indigenous Mayangna of Awas Tingni Entering the community of Awas Tingni Photo by Eugenio Fernández Vázquez Like many countries in the global south, Nicaragua added production, business administration, financial is devolving control