How does decentralisation affect people’s lives? What has it accomplished or failed to deliver? Who plays what role in the process? These are some of the questions this paper aims to answer by looking at what has happened in the rural municipality of Sanankoroba in Mali as events here, broadly reflect some of the major concerns about decentralisation.

This paper looks at the relationship between natural resource endowment and economic development. Certain types of natural resources such as oil and minerals have a tendency to lead to production and revenue patterns that are concentrated (point-sourced economies), while revenue flows from other types of resources such as agriculture are more diffused throughout the economy (diffuse economies).

This paper examines change in West African agricultural systems, the major challenges being faced by smallholders in the region and pathways for the future, given international pressure and domestic restraints. It aims to strengthen debate on West African agriculture, the role of family farms and trade policy at national, regional and global levels. It also aims to identify and document how agricultural patterns and livelihoods are evolving in different parts of the region, to identify winners and losers, to outline the impact of OECD trade and agricultural policy on farming livelihoods, and to highlight the opportunities for producer organisations to influence policy design and negotiations in partnership with diverse organisations and interests in West Africa.

Can community based ecotourism in northern Tanzania contribute to both conservation and rural development? This paper explores themes relevant not only to development and conservation, but also to natural resource governance and rural livelihoods in East Africa. More and more rural communities in northern Tanzania are signing agreements with private companies to develop ecotourism businesses on their land. These agreements offer important new economic opportunities. But the ability of local people to benefit from them can be compromised. The struggles and conflicts that arise illustrate some of the fundamental governance challenges to community-based natural resource management and ecotourism in Tanzania.

Are local governments able to give more power to poorer groups? And support their capacities for action and partnership? Are the urban poor able to make a creative contribution to the considerable challenges of urban management? The April 2004 issue of Environment and Urbanization describes how local governments, citizen groups and social movements are developing more participatory ways of working together. Much has been made possible by more democratic and decentralized government structures, and by bottom-up pressures and coherent alternative development approaches from citizens and civil society organizations. This issue explores new approaches and assesses their effectiveness

This special issue focuses on community-based planning (CBP) – planning by communities, for ther communities which links into the local and national government planning systems. The issue draws on the four country CBP project from South Africa, Uganda, Ghana and Zimbabwe and includes examples from franophone Africa, Asia and Latin America. The country studies seek to draw comparisons between the different approaches, objectives and scales used in CBP projects and highlight the need to look at them as part of an integrated planning process for an area.

This paper discusses the limitations in the income-based poverty lines that are widely used to define poverty and to measure urban poverty in Africa, Asia and Latin America. This includes a discussion of whether the poverty lines defined by international agencies and national governments are set at levels that are realistic in relation to the costs of living in the larger/more prosperous/more expensive cities and the prices that the urban poor have to pay for essential non-food items. It also includes a discussion of what poverty definitions based only on income fail to take account of in regard to identifying deprivation and to helping inform poverty reduction policies and practices. This paper assembles data from many empirical studies which suggest that the scale and depth of urban poverty is systematically under-estimated in most of the official statistics produced or used by governments and international agencies.

This paper reviews 23 recent Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers (PRSPs) to consider how they define and measure urban poverty and the extent to which they actually consider urban poverty.

Throughout history, societies have protected areas they consider biologically valuable.

More than 13 million people in the South are directly engaged in small-scale mining - many of whom are women and children - with another 80 to 100 million depend on it for some aspect of their livelihood.