Adaptive Collaborative Management (ACM) is an integrative approach for implementing sustainable management of natural resources, based on a main hypothesis, that is: if there is a high degree of collaboration between stakeholders combined with a high adaptiveness of management systems, the result will be a higher degree of human well being and ecological sustainability. A worldwide network under the umbrella of the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR) is engaged in researching the potential and methodological aspects related to ACM.

This manual provides a comprehensive set of criteria and indicators (C&I) for sustainable forest management based on CIFOR’s research. This research was conducted by interdisciplinary teams of experts in large-scale natural forests managed for commercial timber production in Indonesia, Côte d’Ivoire, Brazil and Cameroon, with additional sites in Germany, Austria and USA. The use of the term ‘generic template’ for these C&I is intended to prevent them being confused with an ideal and universally applicable set of C&I.

The proper alignment of authority and responsibility within and between various levels of social organization is a fundamental governance problem. This study uses a review approach to critically interrogate the political economy of the allocation of environmental jurisdictions between the state, local communities and Rural District Councils in Zimbabwe. Rural District Councils have the authority to enact conservation and landuse planning by-laws.

In recent years, the term ‘gender’ has become a hot discussion topic in various forums and media. Many development sectors require gender analysis as a component of a program’s implementation. However, even today, many people still equate gender with sex or even, as a narrower definition, with women. This is particularly true in regions, where gender has not yet commonly been discussed, such as Bungo and Tanjung Jabung Barat (Tanjabbar) districts, Jambi.