ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book examines the discontinuities that exist between national aspirations and local implementation of sustainable development strategies. It compares what is happening on the ground with formal national environmental action plans, sectoral plans or less formalized policies that are supposed to steer individual countries onto a more sustainable path. The book examines whether local knowledge, aspirations and actions are undermining national aspirations or whether they are being ignored at the national level with detrimental consequences to sustainable development. It explores how evaluation of the impact of resettlement has been impeded by a lack of good environmental baseline data and a lack of funds to enable continuous monitoring of resettled areas. The book shows how development of community-based rangeland sustainability indicators is an attempt to democratize the environmental debate in Botswana.
