Can Extractive Reserves Save the Rain Forest: An Ecological and SocioeconomicComparison of Non-Timber Forest Product Extraction Systems in Peten, Guatemala, and West Kalimantan, Indonesia

摘要

Extractive reserves in tropical rain forests, in which only non-timber productsare harvested, have been heralded by some conservationists as a means of maintaining biodiversity while providing income for local people. The study of extraction systems in Peten, Guatemala, and in West Kalimantan, Indonesia, leads to a more tempered conclusion, for while the Peten program was quite successful, the Kalimantan program was not. The study finds the success of an extractive reserve to be contingent on: (1) ecological conditions, and (2) socioeconomic and political factors. Although the study focuses on market-oriented extractive reserves, many of the issues discussed apply as well to other land uses such as the collection of non-timber forest products for household consumption or small-scale timber extraction.