Private sector delivery of state services is increasingly common worldwide, and state forest plantation management is no exception. Increasingly governments are transferring rights and responsibilities to the private sector for state-owned plantations. Some claim that this is the road to achieving sustainable forest management, greater contributions to local livelihoods and poverty reduction, others disagree. This book examines the evidence and explores the many issues raised by these changing relationships between the state, the private sector and local livelihoods. Experiences from around the world are described through seven case studies from Australia, China, Chile, India, New Zealand, South Africa and the United Kingdom, and key lessons and clear guidance are provided on how governments can best achieve a balance between private and public involvement while continuing to deliver the key social goods and services expected by all citizens.

About the author(s)

Michael Garforth is a freelance forestry consultant and a Director with Tacsus Ltd, Tbilisi. James Mayers is Director, Forestry and Land Use Programme at the International Institute for Environment and Development, and co-author of Policy that Works for Forests and People (2004), The Sustainable Forestry Handbook (2004).

Contents

Executive Summary * Introduction * Part 1: Opportunities, Challenges and Solutions: An Overview - Plantations, Livlihoods and Poverty * Plantation Development and Management: Drivers, Governance and Changing Roles * Balancing Acts: Reconciling Public Policy and Transfer of Ownership and Management * Conclusions and Ways Forward * Part 2: Country Case Studies - A Mixed Economy Commonwealth of States: Australia * Early Experience of Total Divestment: Chile * From Centrally Planned Economy to Vigorous Rural Enterprise: China * Joint Management of State Forest Lands: Experiences from India * Corporation, Commercialization and Privatization: New Zealand * Juggling Social and Economic Goals: South Africa * From Plantation Development to Steward of the Nation's Forests: The UK * Notes * References * Index