A more promising approach is to provide these people with skills and information, and help them get organized. That can build their self-confidence and give them tools to solve their various problems. Much of this needs to centre on their natural resources, since that is one of the few things they have. Government agencies and NGOs also have to change their policies and the way they do business to support villagers' efforts, instead of making life harder for them. That is particularly true when it comes to policies and practices that affect peoples' access to land, forests, grasslands and fish. Research can play a very important role in making those things happen, but it cannot be just any old research. It has to be research that is deliberately designed to help local people, government officials, NGOs and other groups think through issues, reflect on their own experiences, support positions that favour poorer and less powerful people, and provide relevant information about markets and technologies. The researchers themselves must be committed to achieving real change and seeing things through. They must also be savvy enough to understand all the different interests that exist in local communities and avoid being hijacked by the agendas of the rich and the powerful. Otherwise, their work may end up leaving out women, tribal peoples and others that usually get forgotten. This book provides case studies from South Asia. Contents Part I: Introduction 1. Introduction: poverty and environment in practice Stephen Tyler 2. Community-based natural resource management: a research approach to rural poverty and environmental degradation Stephen Tyler Part II: Community-based natural resource management in action 3. Community-based natural resource management and decentralized governance in Ratanakiri, Cambodia Ashish Joshia Ingty John and Chea Phalla 4. Participatory local planning for resource governance in the Tam Giang lagoon, Vietnam Truong Van Tuyen, Ton That Chat, Chau Thi Tuyet Hanh, Duong Viet Tinh, Nguyen Thi Thanh, Nguyen Thi Tuyet Suong, Le Thi Nam Thuan and Ton That Phap 5. Towards upland sustainable development: livelihood gains and resource management in central Vietnam Le Van An 6. Co-management of Pastureland in Mongolia H. Ykhanbai and E. Bulgan 7. Exclusion, accommodation and community-based natural resource management: legitimizing the enclosure of a community fishery in southern Laos Nattaya Tubtim Part III: From local action to policy impact 8. Building networks of support for community-based coastal resource management in Cambodia Kim Nong and Melissa Marschke 9. Scaling up community-based natural resource management in Guizhou province, China Yuan Juanwen and Sun Qiu 10. Walking the extra mile: from field learning to natural resource management research and policy in Bhutan Sangay Duba and Mahesh Ghimiray 11. Strengthening local voices to inform national policy: community forestry in Cambodia Phan Kamnap and Sy Ramony 12. Harmonizing ancestral domain with local governance in the Cordillera of the northern Philippines Lorelei C. Mendoza, June Prill-Brett, Bienvenido P. Tapang, Gladys A. Cruz, Arellano A. Colongon, Jr, Victoria Lourdes C. Diaz, Ma. Cecilia San Luis and Alicia G. Follosco 13. Shaping the key to fit the lock: participatory action research and community forestry in the Philippines Peter O'Hara Part IV: Poverty, community and policy impact in action research 14. Creating options for the poor through participatory research Julian Gonsalves and Lorelei C. Mendoza 15. Exclusive, moi? Natural resource management, poverty, inequality and gender in Asia Tony Beck and Liz Fajber 16. CBNRM communities in action Peter Vandergeest 17 Shaping policy from the field Stephen Tyler and Hein Mallee 18. Conclusions: community-based natural resource management in action Stephen Tyler
