Participation in Sustainable Tropical Forest Management

This study reports the results of a test in Forest Kibira, Burundi, of a method designed to assess the level and nature of participation by local people in forest management quickly and easily. The methods participatory method was deemed helpful. However, the method was felt in need of revision. Although, the hypothesized functions of participation are not wrong, in our opinion, they reflect a way of looking at forest management which, we concluded, needs rethinking. In our discussion of the change needed we make use of Jordan s concept of authoritative knowledge and social or cultural capital. Finally, we conclude that, given the dynamism and complexity that characterize natural forests and their inhabitants, co-operation among all stakeholders in an ongoing dialogue is probably the only way that sustainable forest management can in fact occur.