Rights and Means to Manage Cooperatively and Equitably

In this chapter, I examine the rights and means to manage forest resources from a perspective that accounts for the effective participation of forest dwellers in forest management initiatives aimed at sustainable forest management (SFM). I examine social situations observed in the Brazilian Amazon in July and August 1998. ¹ The research team spent 45 days in the field, testing 13 methods of data collection (several of which were designed to assess local dwellers’ participation in forest management) in sites considered “forest rich” (Trairão) and “forest poor” (Transiriri) as defined in this book (see site descriptions in Annex 2 of the Introduction). In the process of carrying out participant observation, testing methods, and interviewing colonists along the Transamazon highway, the importance of effective participation as a foundation for achieving rights and means for any cooperative action toward SFM became clear. I also learned that different interpretations of what participation means should be considered from the very beginning of management initiatives. My objective in this chapter is to discuss the reasons for and implications of these findings.