Can we learn our way to sustainable management? : adaptive collaborative management in Mafungautsi State Forest, Zimbabwe

Following the failure of top-down centralised management approaches to conservation of natural resources, attention has shifted in the last two decades to participatory approaches. Participatory resource management projects, however, have produced disappointing results. They have failed to meet the combined objectives of enhancing sustainable resource management whilst simultaneously benefiting the poor (Kiss, 1990; Wells et al., 1992; Franks and Worah, 2003; Emerton, 2001; Oates, 1995; Gibson and Marks, 1995; Barrette and Arcese, 1995; Alpert 1996; Hannah 1992). The efforts have therefore been criticized by conservationists, who consider participation by local people to result in increased degradation and biodiversity loss (Terborgh, 1999; Kramer and van Schaik, 1997, Oates, 1999). These critics call for stricter enforcement of protected area boundaries to safeguard biodiversity...