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The diversity of forest management experiences in Latin America and the Caribbean shows that sustainable forest management is achievable and can be a highly competitive option in a variety of contexts. Communities, companies, NGOs and the state itself, which owns most of the forests in the region, have applied techniques and practices that have kept forests standing while at the same time obtaining economic benefits and contributing to global wellbeing. Some of these cases have made more progress than others towards sustainability and should serve as a guide for similar initiatives throughout the region and the rest of the world. The exemplary cases of forest management and cases with exemplary aspects that are discussed in this book indicate a paradigm shift in the region regarding natural resources management. Gone are the days when volume and price were the only things that mattered. The evidence that forests can be managed by applying sustainability criteria in different contexts, on different scales and by different actors shows that good management can reduce deforestation, fight poverty and maintain environmental services. The cases presented here, as well as the many other undocumented cases that exist in the region, serve as inspiration to create new forestry policies that mitigate the impact of climate change.
