Chapter 2. ACTORS, ENTITLEMENTS AND EQUITY IN NATURAL RESOURCE MANAGEMENT

Document begins: Chapter 2. ACTORS, ENTITLEMENTS AND EQUITY IN NATURAL RESOURCE MANAGEMENT 2.1 Management aactors People have diverse perceptions of the same environment. A forest can be seen as an aggregate of trees waiting to be felled and sold, a place of rest and leisure, a source of food and firewood, the hiding nest of dangerous animals, the sacred home of water-giving gods, a place providing safe haven from pursuing enemies, a hiding place for insurgents against a government, or the habitat of a rare sub- species of pangolins. These different perceptions correspond to different under- standings of the values, opportunities and risks that the same environment has to offer. As a basic source of livelihood, the forest should be utilised and protected. As a place of leisure, it should be visited in the weekend in the company of friends. As an immobilised capital, it should be exploited. As a dangerous place, it should be avoided or cleared out. As a sacred place, it should be worshipped and respected. As a valuable ecological niche it should be enlisted as protected area as soon as possible. In a broad sense, everyone on Earth could recognise opportunities and risks in the ACTORS, ENTITLEMENTS ...