In preparing an investment project, development strategies and project components are defined and revisited during project formulation through a consultative process that often includes Socio-economic and Production Systems Studies. These studies are conducted to develop an appreciation of the situation in which the intended beneficiaries live, and their perceptions of their problems, needs and priorities. The present study was carried out on the socio-economic situation of tribal communities and livelihoods in selected areas in Madhya Pradesh and Bihar in India.

This issue of Unasylva focuses on the challenges facing mountain development into the twenty-first century.

...The main purpose of this paper is to examine legal measures taken to recognize
indigenous groups and provide for their ongoing operation; the paper starts, therefore, from an
underlying assumption that indigenous groups have continued relevance to the needs and wishes
of the people who operate within them. Nevertheless, while it is beyond the scope and purpose of
the paper to explore this complex issue in any depth, it may be useful to present – however briefly
– some of the arguments made for and against the preservation of indigenous groups. In the

The purpose of this study is to introduce some of the literature on Common Forest Resource Management from Asia, Africa and Latin America. It is recognized that the three regional reviews of both published and unpublished sources and the issues analyses which constitute this document are not complete. However, it was decided to publish this material in order to present information known to date and identify gaps in our understanding of this important topic.

Rosero-Bixby, L. & Palloni, A. Population and Environment (1998) 20: 149. doi:10.1023/A:1023319327838

The Planning Commission set up a Working Group to examine the prospects of leasing out of degraded forests to the private entrepreneurs/ Forest Corporations. The terms of reference for the Group were:-

·  Economic, social and environmental feasibility of leasing or otherwise making degraded forest land to the
private entrepreneurs/ Forest Corporations.

·  Implication of Ninth Plan, forest policy, forest law on this issue.

Paper defines a strategy for forest sector development, and translates it for practical application. In response to the causes of deforestation and desertification, which are rooted in a complex web of socio-economic factors (both inside and, mainly, outside the forests) these guidelines are centred on the needs of people living in and making a living from forests. Sustainable forest management is based on economic, environmental, social and cultural criteria and indicators.

Report on illegal logging of Cambodia's forest resources, the government's complicity and the role of Thailand and Vietnam in the export of logs.

Manual for researchers in Southeast Asia involved in the economic evaluation of tropical forest land use options. It was developed initially to serve as an aid to Cambodian researchers in the execution of an EEPSEA-financed study of non-timber forest values in Ratanakiri Province, Cambodia. The aim of the manual is to provide non-specialists with a basic theoretical background to economic valuation of the environment and with a practical methodology for an economic evaluation of alternative tropical forest land uses.