13 Policy Matters.qxp

us many times. Now we are working on

the concession only because they have

already involved us,

since the benefits from

the harvest are mini-

mal.”

In turn, the president of

the Concession

Committee stated that

the planning process did

not involve locals direct-

ly. As he described it,

“we were invited to a meeting and they

told us what they were doing and asked if

it was good, and we approved.” In refer-

ence to the construction of a nature trail,

Andrés said it was built “because CATIE is

behind us telling us to do it.” Male mem-

bers of the concession are involved in the

project primarily as day laborers and field

assistants, carrying out instructions set

out by the CATIE staff.

Even as they were excluded from deci-

sion-making, individuals in San Diego sup-

port the concession. My ethnographic

research and interviews with a majority of

the adult residents show that they support

the concession because it enables them to

achieve goals consistent with their own

interests. The principal benefit is per-

ceived to be land tenure security and the

right to plant milpaor cornfields. Thus,

Andrés commented that “the land is ours

and we are paying taxes to harvest.”

Similarly, Francisco indicated, “the land is

ours. We are paying taxes for it and the

concession is for San Geronimo [and three

other settlements]. So, we are the only

ones that have rights to it.” Chema said,

“we know that we are renting this land

and that they can’t remove us, nor can

others come in.” Xavier seconded this

comment saying, “no one can come and

take it away or steal. Because people from

other areas are not permitted to enter.”

Even as people in San Diego saw them-

selves as achieving goals consistent with

their interests, the ways in which the proj-

ect framed them – as lacking knowledge

of appropriate human land relations – had

long-term implications. Migrants were con-

sistently excluded from decision-making

processes. In time, migrants came to

frame themselves as incapable of deci-

sion-making. For instance, six years into

the project, people in San Diego did not

see themselves as capable of managing

the concession alone. When asked about

CATIE’s impending withdrawal in 1997,

most people said that they believed the

project would not continue without further

assistance. As Juan remarked, “We need

help from people that are educated

Conservation aas ccultural aand ppolitical ppractice

Because tthey aare ssaid

to llack kknowledge oof

appropriate mmanage-

ment ppractices, tthe

project sstaff cconsis-

tently eexclude

migrants ffrom ddeci-

sion-mmaking

Figure 5.Community Forestry Concession in
Action. (Courtesy Juanita Sundberg)