Decentralization Reforms & Property Rights: Potentials and Puzzles for Forest Sustainability and Livelihoods

The project focuses on the target countries of Bolivia, Kenya, Mexico, and Uganda, with in-country partner organizations including the Center for the Study of Economic and Social Reality, Kenya Forestry Research Institute, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de Mexico, and Uganda Forestry Resources and Institutions Center. The project aims to investigate the effectiveness of national-level decentralization and property rights reform policies in promoting sustainable natural resource management (NRM) and improving local livelihoods. However, these policies often fail to achieve their intended goals due to the implementation of blueprint policies that are not well-suited to specific social-ecological systems. This can lead to a mismatch between the policies and the needs of local communities, resulting in inadequate management of natural resources and limited improvements in livelihoods. The project's key hypotheses suggest that successful decentralization reforms are more likely when actors at multiple levels support them, the reforms reconcile a wide array of forest users and interests, and downward accountability is strengthened. Additionally, institutional arrangements that involve multiple actors at multiple levels are expected to perform better than those operating within a single level, and those that exhibit a high degree of fit and congruence are likely to have greater success in managing forests sustainably. Decentralization is a complex process that involves multiple levels, is context-sensitive, and includes feedbacks. It is often misunderstood as a simple one-step process, but careful research has shown that it requires a nuanced understanding of the social, economic, and ecological factors involved. The project's research framework highlights the importance of considering the interplay between decentralization, governance arrangements, behavior, and outcomes in promoting forest sustainability and improving livelihoods. The project's research design involves a comparative analysis of decentralization reforms in the four target countries, with a focus on the role of institutional arrangements, actor support, and downward accountability in promoting sustainable NRM and improving local livelihoods. The research aims to provide insights into the potential and puzzles of decentralization reforms and property rights in promoting forest sustainability and livelihoods, and to inform policy and practice in this area.