Rural Resources & Local Livelihoods in Africa

DESCRIPTION:
Sub-saharan rangelands and forests have been a playground for western interventions, and something of a bottomless pit for donor funding on both environment and development. Many, if not most, of these initiatives have had poor outcomes. That suggests there is something seriously wrong with western understanding of African environments, of the part they play in people's vulnerability, of the ways that people deal with them and of the impacts those strategies entail. This book seeks to analyse and clarify interactions of environment, land use, livelihoods, and natural resource management in African forests and savannas. It aims to develop a better understanding, an approach and a methodology, which in turn will give insights into people's natural resource use strategies, inform policy and management, and ultimately contribute to more secure livelihoods and welfare for local rural African populations.

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CONTENTS:
Introduction
- rural resource use & local livelihoods in sub-saharan Africa by Katherine Homewood - I DEGRADATION OR CHANGE? Out of the woodland, into the fire
- fuelwood & livelihoods within & beyond Lake Malawi National Park by Jo Abbot - Protected areas & decentralizaton in the Democratic Republic of Congo
- a case for devolving responsibility to local institutions by E. de Merode - II SHIFTING LIVELIHOODS
- CONSERVATION & DEVELOPMENT IN CHANGING ENVIRONMENTS Detail & dogma, date & discourse
- food-gathering by Damara herders and conservation in arid north-west Namibia by Sian Sullivan - The contingency of conservation by David Brockington - III LIVELIHOOD STRATEGIES
- DEMOGRAPHIC & ECONOMIC WAYS OF DEALING WITH UNPREDICTABLE CHANGE People are a resource
- demography & livelihoods in Sahelian Fulbe of Burkina Faso by K. Hampshire & S. Randall - Gender equality - No
- what do Fulbe women really want? by S. Buhl IV SOCIAL INSTITUTIONS Understanding institutional contexts to define research questions
- settlement history, forestry institutions, identities & visions of the future in south-west Cameroon by B. Sharpe - Legal pluralism in the rain forests of south-eastern Cameroon by M. Graziani & P. Burnham - Conclusion by Katherine Homewood