This paper examines how decentralized forest governance policy led to new patterns of wealth accumulation in villages as a result of economic opportunities created by wood-charcoal production and trade in rural Senegal. In the region studied, the locus for development through decentralized governance was offered through an institution: the democratically elected Rural Council. USAID provided assistance to Rural Communities and their Rural Councils by implementing Wula Nafaa, a project supporting capacity-building and consolidation of institutional infrastructure to encourage wealth creation from forests in a sustainable and inclusive way. This case study was constructed with qualitative data collected during fieldwork and complemented by secondary sources of data. It was observed that a warping of mechanisms meant for promoting equitable access to charcoal-related economic opportunities enabled only a small group of socially and economically advantageously positioned rural elites to grab and dominate the access to forest resources. Elite capture not only excluded less-privileged villagersfrom entering the lucrative charcoal business, creating inequitable access for smaller producers, but had implications for contributing to the existing spatial disparities in development between the remote rural regions and the urban centers of the country.

本文探讨了由于塞内加尔农村地区木炭生产和贸易创造的经济机会，分散的森林治理政策如何导致村庄财富积累的新模式。在所研究的地区，通过一个机构提供了通过分散治理实现发展的场所：民主选举产生的农村委员会。美国国际开发署通过实施 Wula Nafaa 项目向农村社区及其农村委员会提供援助，该项目支持能力建设和机构基础设施的整合，以鼓励以可持续和包容的方式从森林中创造财富。本案例研究是根据实地工作期间收集的定性数据构建的，并辅以二手数据来源。据观察，旨在促进公平获得与木炭相关的经济机会的机制的扭曲仅使一小群在社会和经济上处于有利地位的农村精英能够攫取和支配对森林资源的获取。精英俘获不仅将弱势村民排除在利润丰厚的木炭行业之外，为较小的生产者创造了不平等的机会，而且还对偏远农村地区和该国城市中心之间现有的发展空间差异产生了影响。