Some Assumptions underlying Canada's Foreign Aid in Forestry

Abstract

A number of assumptions underlie the foreign aid given by the Canadian International Development Agency to the developing countries. These include: trickle down concept, tied-aid, capital assistance and its delivery through forestry consultants, duplication, and exclusion of Third World Canadians. These assumptions have outlived their usefulness. They only constrict development and undermine the practice of sustainable forestry. Recently the Government of Canda has given CIDA a fresh mandate that rejects the trickle down concept. In its place an integrated approach to forest development involving the local populace has been prescribed. But without glasnost and perestroika within CIDA itself, the mandate will suffer a slow death.