Land Reform in Bolivia: a forestry policy?

SUMMARY In this paper we analyze the Bolivian land reform within the general context of land reforms and then we look at how the Bolivian case could be better understood as a forest reform. First we discuss the ‘standard’ conditions for a successful land reform. Second we highlight that ‘special’ conditions apply to Bolivia. Next, we provide a synthesis of the discussion of the Bolivian government –in light of the points highlighted above– and show how the focus of the national authorities is centred on the standard conditions of land reform and how the issue of forest management is being neglected. We find that if land reform is carried out neglecting the forestry issue it might not solve the structural inequalities that characterize the Bolivian countryside and it is going to contribute to the problem of deforestation.