Some Aspects of Land-Use Planning in Peasant Cultures.

The economist and the planner in Latin America are repeatedly confronted with problems related to land-use planning in peasant cultures. This paper is a partial response to some of them. In particular, however, the paper is concerned with a few of the more important aspects of land-use planning for agrarian reforms and colonization projects in Latin America in which forestry is one of the viable alternatives. Even in the most favorable cases, the odds working against the sustained and long-run success of agrarian reform and colonization projects are formidable. With a few notable exceptions, the record to date is not overly encouraging and the tragic remnants of projects that once offered hope to the rural dispossessed and impoverished are found throughout the world. Much more thought and planning in dealing with the long-run consequences of policy alternatives, as well at the introduction of new and bold ideas, is necessary in this area. It is hoped that the concepts discussed in this paper will contribute to this end.