La forêt est confrontée à la réalité même des sociétés qui la gèrent. La gestion participative est présentée, reconnue et établie comme la référence des politiques publiques environnementales, l'ultime recours des processus de gestion des forêts d'Afrique centrale, mais elle s'avère aujourd'hui difficile à mettre en oeuvre et connaît des fortunes diverses. Comment expliquer ce décalage entre la rhétorique participative et sa mise en pratique localement ? Cet ouvrage collectif propose des réponses à cette question. Il apporte, dans une perspective pluridisciplinaire, un éclairage documenté et critique.

Les ressources naturelles issues des forêts constituent un élément central des moyens de subsistances des populations locales et autochtones d'Afrique. De nombreux pays africains ont décidé de reconnaître sous certaines limites un droit aux populations à gérer leur milieu, et se sont engagés dans une série de réformes améliorant le cadre légal et règlementaire de l'exploitation forestière. Quel bilan tirer après plusieurs années de mise en place de ces réformes ?

This publication contains 14 case studies which detail successful examples of sustainable forest management practices identified and demonstrate the evolution of the forest sector in Central Africa. This is part of an initiative, undertaken within the framework of the FAO/Netherlands Partnership Programme and in close collaboration with regional and international organisations, to highlight the numerous efforts undertaken in forest management over the last 20 years to promote all aspects of sustainable development.

Focused on forest management and governance, this book examines two decades of experience with Adaptive Collaborative Management (ACM), assessing both its uses and improvements needed to address global environmental issues. The volume argues that the activation and the empowerment of local peoples are critical to addressing current environmental challenges and that this must be enhanced by linking and extending such stewardship to global and national policymakers and actors on a broader scale. This can be achieved by employing ACM’s participatory approach, characterized by conscious efforts among stakeholders to communicate, collaborate, negotiate and seek out opportunities to learn collectively about the impacts of their action. The case studies presented here reflect decades of experience working with forest communities in three Indonesian Islands and four African countries. Researchers and practitioners who participated in CIFOR’s early ACM work had the rare opportunity to return to their research sites decades later to see what has happened. These authors reflect critically on their own experience and local site conditions to glean insights that guide us in more effectively addressing climate change and other forest-related challenges. They showcase how global and regional actors will have to work more closely with smallholders, Indigenous Peoples and local communities, recognizing the key local roles in forest stewardship. This book will be of great interest to students, scholars and practitioners working in the fields of conservation, forest management, community development, natural resource management and development studies more broadly. The Open Access version of this book, available at www.taylorfrancis.com, has been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 license.

This volume brings together selected papers presented and discussed at the Conference on Conservation of West and Central African Rainforests, held in Abidjan, November 5-9, 1990.