Latin America: A regional perspective on its forest policy and economics

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Abstract

This final paper in the Special Issue on Latin America summarizes the contributions of the 15 previous and more specialized papers under the themes of 1) defining characteristics of Latin American forestry and its comparison with forestry in other parts of the world, 2) policies that make a difference specifically for Latin America and 3) Latin America's developing forest industry. We observe, in particular, the region's position within Mather's well-known Forest Transition and what this suggests for the future of Latin American forest development and for the important effect of aggregate economic development on forest use, for agriculture's role in deforestation and policies to control it, and for the need for more information about the forest industry and its impact on forest-dependent human communities and on the forest itself. More or better information about each of these themes would lend confidence to our findings. More importantly, it would enable improved market and policy adjustments for the large changes that we anticipate both economic development and global climate change will bring to Latin America's forests and forest sector in the years ahead. Finally, we finish by noting the rapidly growing demands for non-consumptive uses of Latin America's forests and the importance of information about those as well.

Introduction

Latin America—South and Central America plus Mexico but excluding the Caribbean Island countries for our purposes in this paper—includes 906 million ha of forest or 24% of the total global forest cover. About 46% of Latin America's land area is forest. As much to the point for global policy, Latin America as a region experienced an average annual loss from this forest of 3.5 million ha or a country-level average deforestation rate of 0.59% each year from 2015 to 2019. These fundamental facts alone, the magnitude and global share of Latin America's forest and its rate of deforestation, justify our attention. Global concern with climate change and forestry's role in mitigating it reinforce our interest, as does recognition of the implications for the loss of other forest-based environmental services such as biodiversity for which Latin America's remaining forest, especially its more than 60% share of the remaining tropical moist forest, is a crucial part. These are global issues but they are also well-recognized in the region, as the region-wide addition of 13.6 million ha of new forest plantations since 1990 and forest laws and policies that are new or have been revised for every country in the region (except Suriname) since 1988 demonstrate.1

This Special Issue of the Journal of Forest Policy and Economics examines many of the issues of Latin American forestry. It began with an introduction and continued with 15 specialized papers prepared by authors with personal experience in the region. Some of those 15 share a region-wide perspective; for example, the Favarro et al. paper projecting the potential impact of global climate change on the Latin American forest. Others, more often, share selective insight from a particular country and specific national policy; for example, public financial support for commercial forest management in Chile (Espana et al.), payments for forest-based ecosystem services in Costa Rica (Robalino et al.), or the local human impacts of new forest plantations in Brazil (Alfonso and Miller). As with the latter three examples, the evidence from the policy and country in question is of interest to other countries in the region—and often in the world—where similar policies exist or are under consideration.

The brief first paper in this Special Issue introduced the 15 specialized papers and the particular focus and analytical approach of each. Readers with selective interests are referred to that introduction and to the individual papers themselves. For this final paper it is more important to review three central themes that run through many of the earlier papers. All three have generalizable implication either for Latin America or for Latin America's comparison with other regions of the world. The first paper by Morales Olmos, with fundamental underlying country and regional data, is preparation and becomes organization for this summary paper. It contains two of the three themes that run through the subsequent papers: 1) the contrast between forestry in Latin America and forestry in the rest of the world and 2) Latin America's developing forest industry. The second paper by Caravaggio ties in with the first Morales Olmos theme by inquiring of the relationship between forest cover and the pattern of forest sector development. A third theme emerges from the reading of these first two papers: 3) What policies make a difference for the forests of Latin America? This third theme, in one part or another, is the focus of many of the other 13 papers. All three themes draw out the importance of correctly targeting forest policy for objectives that may be national, regional, or even global but for which effective policy must recognize local distinctions.

This final paper highlights and summarizes the three themes, and then introduces related points, such as well-defined impacts on local human populations or the impact of macroeconomic volatility on the forest sector, that also reoccur in various of the 15 papers. Lastly, Morales Olmos' data on tourism and on protected areas in forests are reminders of an additional broader forest-related issue, the non-consumptive uses of the forest, that remains undeveloped in the 15 papers but an issue that is becoming more important and deserves greater attention. Are there others?

Section snippets

Forestry in Latin America and its contrasts with the rest of the world

If it is reasonable that country or regional responses to market conditions or policy proscriptions may be similar when those countries or regions share similar forest and economic characteristics—and dissimilar if they do not—then it is also reasonable to begin an inquiry into comparisons between Latin America's forestry and that of the rest of the world by separating countries into regional groups with relatable forest and economic conditions.

Morales Olmos' paper separates Latin America into

Implications for forest policy, a second theme of the papers of this Special Issue

What are the policy conclusions to be drawn from this discussion? What conclusions can we draw from knowledge of the aggregate data of Table 1 and an understanding of the Forest Transition or the forest development path. And, if we look more closely at policies like those reviewed by Mohebalian et al. and Robalino et al. and others too, what can we say about efficient policy or improved policy design?

The forest industry, a third theme of papers in this Special Issue

Morales Olmos' tables show our first insight to the recent growth of the Latin American forest industry. Subsequent papers in this Special Issue discuss various of the industry's components: timber management and logging, the impact of management on the local human community, processing in the pulp industry, and Latin American participation in international trade. Morales Olmos and the later paper by Zhang add information on international investment in the Latin American industry. We will

Summary, conclusions, and implications for policy and research

This Special Issue of the Journal of Forest Policy and Economics set out to identify important characteristics of Latin American forestry and forest policy. We—the organizers of the Special Issue and the authors of 15 specialized papers—summarized our observations within three themes that run throughout the specialized papers: 1) the contrast between Latin America and the rest of the world, particularly the rest of the developing world, 2) the policies that make a difference for forestry in

Declaration of Competing Interest

The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

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