ABSTRACT
Over the last 25 years or so, common property resource management (CPRM), or community-based resource management (CBRM) strategies have been promoted in many countries by national governments and donors programmes alike as the best way out of environmental degradation and poverty. CPRM is largely based on the principle that communities are best placed to manage the resources directly adjacent to them because they know them and use them, and therefore have an interest in maintaining the resource. In the forestry sector, different models have evolved in different countries, but in most countries the forestry department enters into partnerships with community user groups comprising community members. Legal frameworks do regulate the roles and responsibilities of user groups and the state, and typically, whilst the state provides professional support and controls the application of the rules, local people are responsible for the hands-on management in the hope of sharing the benefits from the resource harvest.
