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Testimonials:
Prof Elinor Ostrom, Professor of Political Science, Indiana University:
Dr Neil Byron, Productivity Commissioner, Australia:
Dr Nigel Turvey, CEO, Greenfield Resource Options, Australia:
Dr Steve Bass, Senior Fellow, IIED:
Dr Ian Bevege, Principal Advisor ACIAR (retired), advisor to international development and research agencies including CGIAR:
Professor Jeff Burley, Director-Emeritus, Oxford Forestry Institute, and Past-President, IUFRO:
Professor Klaus van Gadow, Institute of Forest Management, Göttingen:
Prof Elinor Ostrom, Professor of Political Science, Indiana University:
A useful book for those who want to help local people craft and successfully implement efficacious visions of a better future for themselves and the resource systems on which they are dependent.
Prof Elinor Ostrom, Professor of Political Science, Indiana University
Dr Neil Byron, Productivity Commissioner, Australia:
Enthralling! This book is very easy to read but very hard to put down.
Anyone interested in working with local communities to better manage
natural resources will find this book essential reading.
Dr Neil Byron, Productivity Commissioner, Australia
Dr Nigel Turvey, CEO, Greenfield Resource Options, Australia:
This is a delightful book which takes you by surprise. You become intrigued and engrossed in the stories of Mrs Siwela and the broom grass collectors of Batanai, the johads of Rajendrah Sing the River Maker, and landscapes livestock and people of Mafungausti; you understand the pressing problems of managing the resource, be it grass, water, trees or livestock, and see plainly the decisions that have to be made for the community to either live or die.
The problems are laid out, the strategies aired, the connections between the people, the landscape and the resource are traced, and all of a sudden you are creating a functioning model. The authors subtly lead you into the normally arcane world of computer models, along storylines which make the models real and relevant. This is one of the more pleasant ways to learn the relevance of modelling.
The models themselves are organised reflections of the people and their futures; people whose livelihoods are based on wise and careful use of natural resources. As the authors point out, ‘most of us dream of a better future … this book is about how to take such a dream and turn it into reality.
Dr Nigel Turvey, CEO, Greenfield Resource Options, Australia
Dr Steve Bass, Senior Fellow, IIED:
What a great little book!
The world is becoming ever more uncertain and complex. Faced with big uncertainties, successful societies have found their own ways to bring the
future into the present - to imagine the future, if not quite to manage it.
Faced with complexity, they thrive through their own exploration of it -
discovering ways to create new synergies. Enduring development is thus
largely endogenous. Yet, in poorer countries, such creative human impulses
have tended to be swept aside by grand development plans, too often
generated by outsiders.
If external 'plans' have gained a bad name, the authors of this book show
that 'planning' can really work if it is driven by local communities and if
it follows a structured, learning path focused around an explicit vision.
Using three cases to gradually build our understanding, they show how to
follow that structured path - to build on the creative energies found in any
community, and to link in modern methods of modelling that can liberate
those energies. The language is straightforward, the text is not too
didactic but is richly illustrated from the real cases, and the authors'
enthusiasm is infectious. This short book should be a real help to the local
organisations and leaders that drive endogenous development.
Dr Steve Bass, Senior Fellow, IIED
Dr Ian Bevege, Principal Advisor ACIAR (retired), advisor to international development and research agencies including CGIAR:
The authors bring a wealth of knowledge and know-how borne of extensive practical experience of resource management in industrial and developing countries to bear on the challenge of how to enable ordinary people to participate effectively in the planning and decision making necessary for their own developmental futures. The book also provides a much-needed source of proven methodology for professional development assistance practicioners who, despite oceans of goodwill towards those they are trying to help, often lack sufficient skills and the tools necessary. This is a book for everyone concerned with natural resources development for people, by people.
Dr Ian Bevege, Principal Advisor ACIAR (retired); advisor to international development and research agencies including CGIAR
Professor Jeff Burley, Director-Emeritus, Oxford Forestry Institute, and Past-President, IUFRO:
Throughout the world there is a growing appreciation of the values of forests and other natural renewable resources for human and environmental health and welfare; economic, environmental and social benefits are varied as are the numbers and types of beneficiary stakeholders.There is an equally expanding recognition of the need for public participation in planning, managing and benefiting from natural resources. The envisioning and modelling processes described in this book will be valuable tools to assist participatory decisions about natural resources.
Professor Jeff Burley, Director-Emeritus, Oxford Forestry Institute, and Past-President, IUFRO
Professor Klaus van Gadow, Institute of Forest Management, Göttingen:
This refreshing text highlights the importance of “sustainable use” and brings to life abstract concepts like “participatory modeling”. 'Realizing Community Futures' presents a novel approach to modelling which will help communities to use their natural resources with confidence and good judgment.
Professor Klaus van Gadow, Institute of Forest Management, Göttingen
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