Forest governance institutions, anthropogenic disturbance and forest cover change in Central American forests

Protecting forests in Central America, where people live in and around protected areas, has unique challenges. Various institutions, rules created to protect natural resources, have been employed to help protect these areas. This work focuses on the impact of institutions on forest cover and condition through a multi-scale, interdisciplinary approach. Research involved social, ecological and land cover change analyses for Guatemalan forests and La Fraternidad Biosphere Reserve, a protected, contiguous, high montane cloud forest which spans the borders of El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras. The goal of this work is to elucidate institutional arrangements for forest protection, anthropogenic harvesting patterns and resulting change in forest conditions. Both national-level decentralization and local rules-in-use were examined for impacts on forest cover change. Monitoring and enforcement of rules-in-use were analyzed for their impact on forest conditions.;Decentralization of natural resource protection is examined for the effects on forest cover across Guatemalan municipalities by examining differences in various socio-economic variables before and after decentralization through a land cover change analysis. Under a decentralized forestry sector, forest area protection has shifted from protecting standing forests to increased forest turn-over and reforestation efforts.;La Fraternidad Biosphere Reserve, shares international- and national-level natural resource use legislation among Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador. Nonetheless, the ways that these natural resource laws are interpreted locally through rules-in-use, and how they are enforced differ greatly among countries. Monitoring and enforcement of these laws are examined in this protected area for impacts on forest cover and forest condition through a comparative land cover change analysis and forest mensuration techniques coupled with household survey data. Within La Fraternidad Biosphere Reserve, monitoring and enforcement are strong indicators of forest area protection; however difficult to access forest areas may be protected without these efforts. Forest harvesting behaviors of selected tree species are apparent where a lack of monitoring and enforcement exists. These harvesting patterns change substantially where monitoring and enforcement are high.;This work builds on previous research by exploring, in greater depth, the relationship of socio-economic variables on the success of forest protection under decentralization. It corroborates findings in the field by reiterating the importance of monitoring and enforcement on forest protection. This work expands current understanding of how these activities change the pattern of illegal forest harvesting and forest conditions by examining the different influences of human foraging behavior in the presence and absence of monitoring and enforcement and differing levels of forest accessibility.