This Working Paper, based on fieldwork in Central America, focuses on decentralisation of state functions in the natural resources sector and builds on several earlier ODI Working Papers and a Natural Resources Perspectives Paper stemming from the programme. This paper examines the Costa Rican and Mexican experiences of decentralisation in the forest sector through analysis both at the national and micro or forest level. These two countries were chosen because they have taken a more proactive approach to decentralisation than most other countries in the region, where decentralisation has been more of an enforced process resulting from macroeconomic pressures and structural adjustment.