This work would not have been possible without the fundamental contribution made by the authors
of the 11 case studies on which this paper is based:1
Amina Akida and Rosina Blomley (United
Republic of Tanzania); Patrice Bigombe Logo (Cameroon); Kwabena Boakye and K. Affum Baffoe
(Ghana); Lamine Bodian (Senegal); Kanimang Camara and Almami Dampha (Gambia); Jeanette
Clarke (South Africa); Frederick W. Kigenyi (Uganda); Frank Matose (Zimbabwe); Mohammed
Moufaddal (Morocco); Nathalie Nyare Essima (Gabon); and Almeida Sitoe and Flávia J. Tchaúque
(Mozambique).
Special thanks go to our colleagues from the Natural Resources Department at FAO, Paul Munro
Faure and Vladmir Evtimov, for their support in coordinating the Sustainable Rural Livelihoods and
More Equitable Access to Resources component of the FAO-Norway Partnership Programme 2006
to 2007, which funded this work; and to our colleague from the FAO Sub-regional Office for Eastern
Africa, Michele Laverdiere.
Finally we would also like to thank all the participants at the Workshop on Forest Ownership and
Tenure, held in Nakuru in October 2006, where all the case studies were presented and discussed: as
well as the case study authors already mentioned, these participants included Peter Giampaoli
(International Land Coalition), Ed Barrow (World Conservation Union) and Rene Oyono (Center
for International Forestry Research).