ABSTRACT
The project-based efforts in the 20th century to revive or construct organised community forestry often led to the creation or co-option of formal co-ordination mechanisms, to help in co-operative learning and sharing of lessons learned as well as the more usual agriculture-based models of co-operative bulk-buying of inputs at discount prices. Stable, democratic, decentralised governance systems allow closer fits between bio-physical forest potentials for sustainable material products and environmental services and local decision-making systems. Local decisions made over small-scale forest assets may produce the anticipated benefits, but at least any damage is limited and lessons learned can be applied immediately. Tenure is related to governance, in that, if local users and user groups are assured that they have secure authority over management decisions, they are much more likely to think and act conservatively and have regard to the wants and needs of future generations of community foresters.
