The Evaluating Eden project aimed to address three overall research questions: What has CWM achieved for wildlife and for people? How do social, political, economic and environmental factors influence the efficacy of CWM? And, what are the key characteristics of successful CWM and how can these be spread? This document summaries the overall conclusions of the project, and synthesises and compares the discussion papers and regional reports (from Central and West Africa, East Africa, Southern Africa, South Asia, South East Asia, Central America, South America, Canada and Australia).

This volume examines community wildlife initiatives from a range of different contexts in the region of West and Central Africa and explores what can be learnt about the conditions necessary for community wildlife management and its spread. A case-study approach was used to focus on specific countries and initiatives including the Kilum-Ijum Forest, Cameroon; Okapi Wildlife Reserve and Garamba National Park in the Democratic Republic of Congo; Transition zone to the ‘W’ Region Biosphere Reserve, Niger; and Gashaka Gumti National Park, Nigeria. A framework was developed for analysing and comparing the case studies to establish the forces that constrain or enable the spread of CWM.

India’s bold central policy change for joint forest management between government and communities has resulted in regeneration of considerable areas of forest, and has expanded the policy community through inclusion of more stakeholders. But these successes are matched by concerns that forestry departments are still calling the shots, whilst in some cases, serious local inequities are being exacerbated. ~This report describes the evolution of powers over policy, the legacy of colonial forestry, the inertia of ‘fortress forestry’ institutions, the favoured forest industries and the protectionist agenda, which seeks to lock away forests from people’s use. These powers need to be tackled openly and concertedly for the ideal of joint forest management and the potential of farm forestry to be fully realised. The report shows how this can be done through policy processes, instruments, programmes and information which foster productive and equitable forest management.

This working paper discusses the impact of a multi-institutional research programme in low potential areas of Kenya. The programme elaborated nutrient balances, combined with economic analysis, to better understand causes and effects of soil fertility decline. Alongside, better soil fertility management practices were developed using a participatory technology approach. This paper assesses to what extent farmers changed their practices, if the programme has influenced ways of working with extension and research, or has led to better informed policies.