Devolution as a Means of Expanding Local Forest Management in South China: Lessons from the Past 20 Years

ENTRAL GOVERNMENTS have experimented with mechanisms to transfer responsibilities and rights for forest management to local governments, pri-

vate industries, community-based organizations, and individual households at least since the 1970s (e.g., Rondinelli 1981, Rondinelli et al. 1989, Manor 1999, Agarwall and Ribot 2000). Perhaps no country has made more dramatic steps toward devolving the authority for forest management than the People’s Republic of China.