ABSTRACT
“Concerned stakeholders have acknowledged rights and means to manage forests cooperatively and equitably” (Principle 4, Generic C&I Template, CIFOR 1999). This idea was considered to be an integral part of sustainable forest management (SFM) by all the research teams that participated in our field tests (including tests in South America, Asia, and Africa; developed and developing countries, or, the North and the South). It emerged partially in response to a common pattern whereby people living in forests had little or no rights or power to affect formal management while they often had functioning and unacknowledged management systems. The more powerful stakeholders (such as government and timber company officials) typically did not perceive local peoples to have either rights or abilities to manage forests in their areas.
