ABSTRACT
One of the most enduring issues facing practitioners and students of both formal and informal systems of community-based natural resource management (CBNRM) in southern Africa is the bewildering array of tensions and conflicts that arise, paradoxically, in situations where local economic development is predicated upon an assumption of ‘community’ cohesion and stability. Indeed, many of the case studies in Part 2 indicate that local conflicts and tensions are the greatest cause for concern, the highest common denominator in debates about whether or not there has been ‘success’ or ‘failure’ in formal CBNRM projects.
