In Petén, Guatemala, community forestry is viable business

In the space where forest conservation meets poverty reduction, win-win situations can be rare, especially in developing world countries where customary rights of local communities are not always recognized. But in Guatemala’s northern Petén region, a recent study by scientists from Bioversity International, in collaboration with the Center for International Forestry Research and other partners, provides an “example that community stewardship of tropical forest is a viable model for conserving forest and for achieving livelihood benefits,” said the report’s lead author, Dietmar Stoian, now a scientist with World Agroforestry (ICRAF).

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