This book examines how different countries across Southeast Asia and Latin America respond to the emergence and expansion of the lucrative, yet controversial palm oil industry, paying attention to how national policy and governance regimes are shaping this global industry. With its historic roots in Southeast Asia, oil palm cultivation continues to expand beyond its historical centres. In Latin America, many countries are now developing their own policies to promote and govern oil palm cultivation. This book provides a unique examination of how different countries strive to strike a balance between developmental and environmental concerns, through case studies on Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand, Colombia, Brazil, Ecuador, Honduras, and Mexico, and an outlook for the industry's prospects in Africa. This book applies an assemblage approach to draw out lessons on the global challenges posed by the industry and how differing national governance regimes and communities might respond to them. Rather than a single global industry, the book unveils a complex arrangement of national and even local palm oil assemblages, indicating that there is more than one way to do palm oil. In doing so, the book contributes to a better understanding of the drivers and processes that shape the governance of the industry, both in different nations and globally. This book will be of great interest to students and scholars of the palm oil industry, as well as those interested in natural resource governance, sustainable agriculture, conservation, environmental justice, and environmental and development policy more broadly.

In Peru, since 1974, more than 1,200 communities have been titled in the Amazon for over 12 million hectares, representing about 20% of the country's national forest area. This working paper analyzes policy and regulatory changes that have influenced how indigenous peoples access, use and manage forest and land resources in the Peruvian Amazon during the last fifty years. It reviews the main motivations behind changes, the institutional structures defined by law and the outcomes of these changes in practice. The paper discusses political priorities related to land and forest tenure, social actors involved in reform debates and the mechanisms used for recognizing indigenous rights claims. The paper argues that there has not been a single reform process in Peru; instead multiple reforms have shaped forest tenure rights, contributing to both progress and setbacks for indigenous people and communities. This working paper is part of a global comparative research initiative that is analyzing reform processes that recognize collective tenure rights to forests and land in six countries in highly forested regions.

"This book offers a historic and anthropological perspective from which to understand the fragility of isolated indigenous groups in the face of contact with outside society. It helps us appreciate the importance, in terms of cultural and biological diversity, of safeguarding their territories for both their future and that of the human race." "Drawing on scientific and legal principles, international agreements, and primarily from the perspective of human rights, Beatriz Huertas Castillo presents solid arguments concerning the urgent need for national and international efforts to defend the territories, cultural integrity and life ways of isolated indigenous peoples."--BOOK JACKET.

This book is an attempt to reflect on the process which made the Ucayali titling project possible. Begun in 1986 and involving the AIDESEP, IWGIA and OIRA, it was an innovative and essential first step in the process towards indigenous self-management.

In this book Siu Lang Carrillo Yap compares the land and forest rights of Amazonian indigenous peoples from Bolivia, Brazil, Ecuador and Peru, and analyses these rights in the context of international law, property law theory, and natural sciences.

"Programmes to reduce emissions from deforestation and ecosystem degradation, such as REDD+ and other forestry incentive programmes, including Payment for Environmental Services (PES), could represent an opportunity to strengthen processes of conservation, sustainable usage and poverty reduction in the Mesoamerican region, particularly in indigenous territories and communities. Analysing the context of such initiatives and how they are interlinked is relevant to understanding how these multipurpose programmes can achieve their objectives in the light of recent developments in the recognition of indigenous peoples' rights over land tenure and natural resources in the region. Examining these contexts and their linkages in countries such as Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua and Panama, where there are considerable forest areas with significant indigenous populations, is the aim of this study."--Publisher's description.