ABSTRACT
Worldwide, natural resources are faced with increasing pressures from globalization, growing consumption levels, stark disparities between the rich and the poor and contestation for use by different stakeholders (Agardy et al 2005; Turner and Fisher 2008; German et al 2010). The consequences of this approach are well-known: runaway climate change, accelerated biodiversity loss and deforestation, a decline in well-being for billions of people and a planet that many describe as being at a tipping point of irreversible change (World Health Organization [WHO] 2005; Rockström et al 2009; Biermann et al 2012; Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development [OECD] 2012). These threats have had a severe impact on local communities and indigenous people, many of whom are exposed to abject poverty and rely on natural resources for food security, income and livelihoods (Fabricius et al 2004; Béné 2008; Nelson 2010; Barrett et al 2011). This is especially the case in Africa, where biologically rich forests, drylands, savannahs, rivers, lakes and seas underpin the livelihoods of millions of people.
