ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the benefits of the new communal resources that were created by the company and highlight the perceptions of various local actors with regards to the ‘local development’. It shows how the process of institutional change from common to private property is structured by local power relations and can also be seen as a process of ‘resilience grabbing’ of the most vulnerable members of society. The collection and sale of firewood was a major income-generating activity for many women and was also seen as a ‘buffer’ activity in times of distress, that is, when quick money was needed to pay for hospital bills, buy food or provide for other emergencies, thus playing an important role for households’ resilience. Fuel wood, on the other hand, was harvested by women from within the Traditional Area the whole year round, whereby the only rules were not to fell whole trees and not to use young trees.
