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Abstract:
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"Forests represent a substantial natural resource in Eastern and Southern Africa and one which supports other important resources including water and wildlife. Whilst originally largely the property of local communities, forests are increasingly owned by the state or subject to individualisation. Those that remain in community hands are held in ways weakly supported in national law. Loss of local forest commons continues apace, with not-unrelated loss of area, values and environmental support. The legal frameworks through which forests are retained and sustained are undergoing widespread change at this time. A common thrust is new provision for forest-local communities to play a greater role in these processes. Concurrent shifts in land relations in the region are proving influential, in particular those reflecting changing attitudes to customary interests in land. Through this arises new legal respect for the traditional capacity of communities to hold resources such as forests, in common. Evolving community-based approaches to forest management encourage and give substance to this development. In the process, 'community' itself is gaining stronger, and sometimes new, form and force."
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