Development cooperation, non-timber forest products and community empowerment: power and interests in a public-private partnership in the Brazilian Amazon

Abstract

In the Br azilian Amazon, around two million people depend on Non-Timber Forest Products (NTFPs) as their main source of cash income. Given the inherent bottlenecks to the commercialization of such products in the region, such as communities lacking access to credit and business skills, alternative governance models have arisen with the aim of addressing such challenges. This stud y focused on one partnership between a donor, the German Cooperation Agency, and two private companies, a new trend in global governance under criticism for being donor dominated and disregarding local interests. While this could undermine the legitimacy of such partnerships and compromise the replicability of the model, the achievement of economic empowerment of NTFP-reliant communities would alternatively deem this type of venture desirable and socially acceptable. Therefore, the main goal of this study was to assess whether such configurations are able to economically empower communities in the state of Pará, Brazil. The results showed that this governance model is unable to generate high empowerment, due to conflicts with the interests of the most powerful actor and external factors, which entails a need for an alternative model to achieve this goal in the region.