ABSTRACT
There is a tendency to express doubt, and even fear, concerning local and/or indigenous land use and resource extraction in terms of its sustainability – thereby adhering to what has been termed the degradation narrative (McCann 1999, Maddox 2002). This is more pronounced in discussions about environments and societies in the south, but not uncommon also concerning the north. It is perhaps most evident around collective/communal tenure arrangements or when local resource use borders or intrudes into areas protected for nature conservation (McShane and Wells 2004, West et al. 2006), but is common also concerning other land use systems (Mortimore and Adams 1999). Warnings about unsustainable local resource use have been voiced by many researchers, conservation organizations, NGOs, as well as other regional, national and international authorities (Adams 2009). At times such doubts were well founded and based on methodologically relevant examinations and solid data (e.g. McNeill 2003, Stanley et al. 2012), although the elusive and complex meaning as well as evaluation of the concept of sustainable resource use should always be highlighted (Ticktin and Shackleton 2011). However, in many cases claims of unsustainable resource use were instead based on assumptions, misunderstandings, generalizations and unsuitable spatial and temporal scales (Leach and Mearns 1996, Ticktin, Chapter 3), and when and where they resulted in restrictions on local resource use the outcome for local communities was increased hardship (Weiner 2005, West and Brockington 2006, Shackleton, Chapter 2).
