This guide aims to help communities develop “interest-based” negotiation skills and understand how to use a range of tools to deal with the power imbalance between them and those trying to take their housing, land and resources. The guide may be useful to communities threatened with eviction as well as communities that are negotiating solutions for evictions already suffered. It encourages communities to develop a negotiation strategy that incorporates advocacy at key points in order to strengthen their position.

Ten IDRC-supported community forestry projects in six countries were selected for this synthesis study. A sizable part of the rural population in these countries are designated as ‘encroachers’ or ‘trespassers’ in the ‘forest.’ Many of these forest users claim long standing customary rights to the area, some of which are formally recognized in state law, but seldom in practice.

The conceptual difference between conventional scientific and natural resource management (NRM) research is based on the need for researchers and the NRM community to be joint learning partners in the process. “Managing Natural Resources for Development in Africa” is a collective endeavour to reframe, filter and contextualize some of the main concepts, theories and practices of NRM. It provides up to date information, and discusses approaches that can equip African graduates with the knowledge, skills and attitudes to respond to changes in social and ecological systems.

While external forces can take many forms, such as the shock of a natural disaster which destroys productive assets, or the long-term ‘trend’ of consistently declining market prices which limits net incomes, the focus of this research is on the policy and institutional environment both within and outside the local community. The following village report examines linkages between micro-level livelihood realities and macro-level policy and institutional contexts. The project is based on a rural case study site of Saninten village in western Java, Indonesia.

The review reveals watershed management research as an interdisciplinary effort at multiple scales within a long-term movement towards informed participatory decision-making. Watersheds, together with aquifers, are the most important units for data collection and modeling in water management. Common property resources (CPRs) are of central importance, especially for low-income inhabitants. The exclusion of women from decision-making is a barrier to proper management as women often have the best understanding of CPR interrelations and management practices.