ABSTRACT
The environment and sustainable management of natural resources have become topics for international meetings on global issues, such as the mitigation of climate change and adaptation to its consequences. But regardless of international agreements, in the field, only national or decentralized governments have the authority to make decisions on their natural resources. They have to deal with local and regional constraints, people’s needs and demands, and the interests of groups, external or internal, which have claims on the resources or their management. Governments may affect natural resources with different tools, such as legislation and regulations, land-use planning and public programmes of rural development or of environmental conservation.
