Privatising the Forests

Does privatisation have a role in world forestry sustainable management? Is privatisation policy valid for the forestry sector? This paper is aimed to the identification of opportunities and risks of forests privatisation in developing countries. Given the above background, privatisation may be defined as the problem of delimiting the extent of what is privately and what is publicly owned by creating social institutions to regulate the distribution of contingent rights and responsibilities. These social institutions include specific arrangements to transfer property rights (such as explicit or implicit auction mechanisms), as well as rules and regulations concerning the extent and the mode in which the rights may be exercised (the “governance” of the privatisation process). The evidence shows that, if done right, the privatisation (of resources and productive processes) produces benefits of economic efficiency and innovation. Because of its world-wide importance and prominent place among natural resources, privatisation of forests appears a research issue of great potential significance. ∗ Professor of Political Economy at the University of Rome “Tor Vergata”. This paper was prepared as a part of a joint research project with FAO. The author is grateful to Emilio Morel for very valuable advise and suggestions in completing the paper. FAO should not be held responsible for the views expressed nor for any mistakes or misrepresentations. These remain sole responsibility of the