The experience of eight forestry projects carried out between March 2005 and December 2006 by indigenous peoples and small farmers in southern Chile has been systematized in a book by the Forestry Engineers for Native Forest Association (AIFBN). The principal lesson was that “the objectives of the projects have to respond completely to the interests of the communities,” and should last at least five years, René Reyes, of AIFBN, told Tierramérica.

Criticisms have emerged against the forestry companies, for isolating and channeling water away from the communities and for destroying the biodiversity, he said.

“Cultivating hope, harvesting joy” describes the projects in the southern Chilean regions of Aracuanía and Los Lagos — from the recovery of wetlands to native forest management –, financed by the United Nations Development Program.