Poverty Dimensions of Public Governance and Forest Management ...

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punitive in its presumptions. The opportunities which decentralisation of local government
presents for a more responsive and constructive approach have not yet been realised.
This study seeks to develop an alternative approach. The premise adopted here is that natural
resource management is concerned with complex relationships between people and resources,
which often interact in unforeseen ways, producing unexpected outcomes.
In such a complex context, effective production of information and knowledge requires:
" The creation of inclusive frameworks which bring together the understanding and
perspectives of a range of natural resource users;
" The creation of democratic platforms for learning and decision-making
" The creation of information systems which rely on a two-way flow of information.
On the one hand, policy-makers need to be able to gain empirical data on conditions within the
district. On the other, natural resource users need to gain new tools to help them:
! Understand their environment
! Apply the principles on which they are agreed to the management of their specific situation;
! Articulate their problems in policy fora, to policy makers, and other resource users.
The implications of this are considered further under Output 2, and a project proposal is
developed in Annexes 4 & 5 to take the agenda forward.
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