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Periodical article Periodical article Leiden University catalogue Leiden University catalogue WorldCat catalogue WorldCat
Title:Community, Forestry and Conditionality in the Gambia
Author:Schroeder, Richard A.ISNI
Year:1999
Periodical:Africa: Journal of the International African Institute
Volume:69
Issue:1
Pages:1-22
Language:English
Geographic term:Gambia
Subjects:popular participation
development cooperation
forestry
Agriculture, Natural Resources and the Environment
Peoples of Africa (Ethnic Groups)
Politics and Government
External link:https://www.jstor.org/stable/1161075
Abstract:This article explains the resurgence of the 'community' scale as a central organizing principle guiding contemporary environmental initiatives in Africa. It analyses community resource management against the backdrop of the structural adjustment programmes that have swept the African region over the past decade, arguing that environmental managers confronted with increased expectations on the part of donors have seized the opportunity to devolve responsibility for environmental managament to 'the community' as a means of expanding programmes while incurring minimal additional costs. The specific case used to illustrate the argument involves the German-funded Gambian-German Forestry Project which has been in existence since 1979. In 1991, in order to speed up the implementation of 'scientific' management on State-controlled forest land in The Gambia, the GGFP began granting rural communities leasehold rights to community forestry reserves. In each instance, however, community representatives were required by contract to commit their constituencies to a rigorous set of management tasks. Participatory rhetoric notwithstanding, the project offered communities little more than graduated sovereignty over forests. Bibliogr., notes, ref., sum. in English and French.
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