Community forestry projects and the strengthening of capabilities and agency in the Oxapampa-Ashaninka-Yanesha Biosphere Reserve, Peru

Abstract

Assessment of community forest management (CFM) has generally been limited to conservation and production dimensions and social aspects have been neglected. We applied the capability approach to analyse a community forestry project in the Amazonian Oxapampa-Asháninka-Yánesha Biosphere Reserve, developed over >10 years by Peruvian NGOs, local associations and artisans of three indigenous communities. This vital biosphere reserve covers >18.000 km² and is inhabited by native Americans and colonos whose livelihoods depend on agriculture and natural resources. We studied the entire forest production chain, including the participatory development of CFM plans, in an environment with considerable logistical and financial obstacles to CFM. As NGOs had considered many technical aspects of CFM, we sought to identify the social elements that had contributed to the continuity of the project. Working with community actors, we asked what were the dimensions of their welfare and how CFM contributed to those dimensions, as well as to improvements in their ability to help themselves and those around them. We used qualitative research tools and identified possible gender inequalities in access to benefits. Participants identified nine dimensions of their welfare (capabilities) and women and men prioritized different sets, though gender was not a factor contributing to exclusion. All participants had expanded access to these capabilities thanks to cash income, greater availability of time, acquisition of knowledge and self-esteem. People recognized an increase in self-confidence and power to bring about change, and several of them joined initiatives to manage improvements in their communities after experience in the project. Group feed-back, recognition of their work and income were important factors for those changes. The capabilities identified ranged from personal to territorial scales and are consistent with local ethical values; women assign greater importance to personal and family areas than men, but men have a wider range of preferences that includes social recognition. The project helped both groups to develop functioning related to capabilities they most value in a difficult environment; it also supported agency development of project partners as individuals. However, there is still no evidence that CFM is contributing agency of an organized group. The consolidation of this project requires organized, not individual, community participation.