| Abstract | This book surveys the historical antecedents and contemporary status of national laws and policies affecting forests and forest- dwellers in India, Indonesia, Nepal, the Philippines, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Papua New Guinea. An introduction and a general chapter on deforestation and the prospects for community-based management are followed by 3 chapters which cover colonial patterns of forest management, the legacies of state ownership and the emerging responses of community-based forest management in the 7 case-study countries. The final 2 chapters discuss the recognition of private community-based rights, and the promotion of sustainable forest management through community-based tenure. |