Cedla Latin America Studies (CLAS) – serie

The last quarter of the twentieth century was a period of economic crises, increasing indebtedness as well as financial instability for Latin America and most other developing countries; in contrast, China showed amazingly high growth rates during this time and has since become the third largest economy in the world. Politically, China presents itself more prominently on the international stage, stressing its position as a developing country and seeking new alliances, including South-South alliances. Based on several case studies, this volume assesses how China's rise-one of the most important recent changes in the global economy-is affecting Latin America's national politics, political economy, and regional and international relations. Several Latin American countries benefit from China's economic growth by means of commodity exports, rising prices, and Chinese investment. Furthermore, China's new role in international politics has been helpful to many leftist governments' efforts in Latin America to end the Washington Consensus.The contributors to this thought-provoking volume examine these and the other causes, effects, and prospects of Latin America's experiences with China's global expansion from a South-South perspective.

This book brings together experiences with a rich variety of sustainable forest and tree resource management partnerships in various countries in Latin America – Trinidad, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Guyana, Brazil and Ecuador. The authors reflect on the scope, objectives, institutional organisation and benefits of partnerships, on the actors involved and excluded, and on the hindrances associated with overcoming cultural differences, institutional barriers, power imbalances and diverging interests. The question that runs as a common thread through this book is whether, and under what conditions, partnerships for sustainable forest and resource management can contribute to pro-poor, socially just and environmentally-friendly forest governance. By presenting the lessons learned from a wide range of partnerships, this book is a valuable resource for students, scholars and practitioners dealing with new governance forms in forest and natural resource management.