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Voluntary Partnership Agreement (VPA) offers a framework for open and participatory forest management for forest actors, particularly communities fringing forest reserves. This paper aimed to determine the factors influencing the participation of local communities in the implementation and monitoring of Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade-Voluntary Partnership Agreement (FLEGT-VPA) activities.

The study was conducted in three communities in Goaso Forest District in the Ahafo Region of Ghana. Based on a cross-sectional design, 105 (n = 105) community members were interviewed using a semi-structured questionnaire. Logistic regression analysis was performed to identify socio-demographic and cultural factors that influence people's participation in FLEGT-VPA activities. Friedman and Wilcoxon signed-rank tests were conducted to analyse the influence of the environmental role of the forest and participation in FLEGT-VPA activities.

The study found a significant association between the leadership status of respondents' local customs/taboo days and participation in both implementation and monitoring activities. At the same time, a significant association was found between respondents' participation in previous training programs and FLEGT-VPA monitoring activities. The environmental role of the forest was also found to have a significant association with respondents' participation in FLEGT-VPA activities.

Studies on the factors that influence the participation of forest fringe communities in Ghana in implementing and monitoring FLEGT-VPA activities are non-existent or scarce. This study identified significant socio-demographic and environmental factors contributing to participatory forest conservation modules such as FLEGT-VPA which will guide future forest conservation initiatives that are inclusive of stakeholders’ interests/concerns.

The purpose of this paper is to highlight the interest of focusing public policies for wildfire management on behavioral changes supported by sustainable development projects dedicated to the Algerian forest heritage. Thus, the Aurès region in the eastern part of Algeria will be used as an example to illustrate the proposed new strategy.

The proposed method, guided by projects' management in sustainable development, consists of developing a responsible citizenship strategy focused on behavioral changes of citizens. Therefore, the title of the proposed method: The Construct of Responsible Citizenship.

In order to cope with forest fires, the proposed approach highlights the interest of promoting responsible citizenship. Likewise, it outlines a tool for sustaining behavioral changes based on the principle of continuous improvement and field follow-up using a multicriteria approach known as “goal programming.”

The proposed new forest fire protection plan addresses the shortcomings in Algeria's current forest fire management policy, which appears unable to deal with the increasing severity of forests' fire risk that the country has been experiencing in recent decades.

The aim is to highlight the interest of investment in forest fires prevention within the framework of the sustainable development of Algerian forest heritage, specifically, to work toward citizen subcontracting of the Algerian forest heritage.

The quest for Africa's desire to achieve innovative and transformative ways in the use of natural resources and the implications this might have on people's lives for the present and future generations is now more critical than ever. This paper aims that in order to let African countries attain an integrated, prosperous and peaceful Africa, driven by its own citizens and representing a dynamic force in the global arena, it is imperative that a coherent policy direction be set between individual countries and continental framework for participatory management of resources in order to address the global challenge of climate change.

This article employs literature review of various sources, to get a deeper understanding of the situation of management of natural resources for sustainable development within the global and African development agenda.

The literature review indicates that nearly 1 out of every 9 people on Earth go to bed hungry every night; there is a challenge of having access to safe and affordable drinking water; fossil fuels and greenhouse gas emissions drastically result into climate change; more than half the world's population lives in cities posing a challenge to affordable public housing, upgraded slum settlements and investment in public transport, creation of green spaces; every country in the world is witnessing the drastic effects of climate change; fish stocks are overexploited and oceans are becoming more acidic.

The study is based on findings from literature review, specifically in line with the global development agenda and African agenda on sustainable development. More studies are needed to include findings from Africa and elsewhere so as to get a clearer global perspective about resource exploitation and sustainability.

The work is expected to provide practitioners concerned with environmental conservation and development with the theoretical and policy gaps that need to be addressed when dealing with environmental management for sustainable development.

The review structures extant natural resource management literature and highlights its critical importance in development management research. Topical gaps in the literature are identified as areas for future research.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the problem of deforestation in Amazonia and the role of the Brazilian government with regard to the capitalist demands and development needs for the region. It offers a brief historical review of public policies and programs for Amazonia, and critically analyzes their conflicting aspects. Local environmental governance (LEG) is proposed as a conceptual framework and a participatory forest management strategy for dealing with the forest destruction.

The paper is a qualitative‐based study which provides a systemic analysis of the process of occupation and the key public policies for Amazonia from over the last decades, particularly during the coup d'état regime. Based on a literature review and official documents, descriptive data are produced which helped in understanding the political phases of the Brazilian government administrations.

The study identified some participatory‐based, decentralized models of forest management and existing forest regulatory frameworks which can serve as an illustrative sketchy arrangement on how local environmental governance can become operative and serviceable for a sustainable balance between the use of natural resources, conservation and regional planning. These findings can help future investigations on governance models. The research also shows how the Brazilian government has perceived Amazonia throughout the decades and how this perception influenced the implementation of development and settlement policies for the region.

The main focus of this article is the debate on the concept of local environmental governance (LEG) as a tool for empowering the local communities through the decentralization of decision making as well as the attempt to find implemented normative and institutional structures within the Amazonian context which can translate aspects of LEG.

Ecological impact of joint forest management (JFM) in India was assessed using the studies undertaken at national, state and forest division levels. It was found that there are very few studies that have specifically addressed the ecological aspects under JFM. The study noted that there are significant strides made in promoting JFM, but the program still needs to address a lot of inadequacies. Though it is estimated that little over 14 million ha of forests are brought under JFM, covering nearly 50 per cent of the open forests in India, how much of it has developed into good forests is not really known. It also needs to be noted that there are many lacunae in implementation of the program and there are also gaps in policies to promote JFM. The study noted that in four states, i.e. Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Orissa and West Bengal, the recruitment was significant, amounting to 17 per cent of the regenerating individuals. In Karnataka, over 10 per cent of open forest has been brought under JFM, while a lot of wasteland could still be brought under JFM. The JFM plantations are dominated with exotic firewood species and low in timber and non‐timber species, resulting in lower biodiversity. Biomass growth rate was comparatively higher in JFM forests as compared to the national average. Other support activities to JFM indicated that various biomass conservation programs were initiated, installing a substantial number of energy saving and alternate energy devices. However, the study also notes that effectiveness of such support programs is not clearly known in terms of its functioning and biomass saved.

Community-based fire management (CBFiM) integrates community action with the standard elements of fire management and mitigation, such as prescribed fire (managed beneficial fires for reducing hazardous fuel loads, controlling weeds, preparing land for cultivation, reducing the impact of pests and diseases, etc.), mechanical fuel treatment, defensible space planning, wildfire awareness and prevention, preparedness planning, and suppression of wildfires. In developed examples of CBFiM, communities are empowered to have effective input into land and fire management and problem solving and to self regulate to respond to fire and other emergencies. Its premise is that local people usually have most at stake in the event of a harmful fire, so they should clearly be involved in mitigating these unwanted events.

Mangrove has the potential to adapt climate change threats like sea level rise, extreme high water events, and coastal erosions. The large stretched root systems of the mangrove acts as a natural barrier to catch hold of the run off soil, leading to accretion of coastal areas. Due to human and other natural activities, mangroves in different parts of the world are being degraded. Citing examples from India, this chapter provides ways of unique mangrove comanagement system with the involvement of local communities, NGOs, and local governments.

In Africa, poverty and food insecurity is pervasive due to intertwined factors including, declining crop yields, land degradation and inadequate policy and institutional support. With ever-increasing populations, climate change effects will be intensified, and a major crisis is inevitable unless measures to sustain land resources are urgently taken. This paper aims to argue that vibrant rural institutions are necessary to ensure food security and environmental protection, consequently contributing to climate change resilience.

The paper demonstrates the role of institutions by evaluating two types of institutions and their impacts the “status quo” and “hybrid” institutions using case studies from the African Highlands Initiative in Uganda and International Forestry Resources and Institutions in Kenya. It further discusses a model that highlights factors affecting smallholder investment in natural resources management and how these can be used to strengthen local institutions in building their resilience against climate change effects.

Weak grassroots institutions characterized by low capacity, failure to exploit collective capital and poor knowledge sharing and access to information, are common barriers to sustainable land management and improved food security.

Case studies from Uganda and IFRI in Kenya barriers in data collection instruments and language.

In Africa, poverty and food insecurity is pervasive due to intertwined factors including, declining crop yields, land degradation and inadequate policy and institutional support. With ever increasing populations, climate change effects will be intensified, and a major crisis is inevitable unless measures to sustain land resources are urgently taken.

In Africa, poverty and food insecurity is pervasive due to intertwined factors including, declining crop yields, land degradation and inadequate policy and institutional support. With ever-increasing populations, climate change effects will be intensified, and a major crisis is inevitable unless measures to sustain land resources are urgently taken.

The paper further discusses a model that highlights factors affecting smallholder investment in natural resources management and how these can be used to strengthen local institutions in building their resilience against climate change effects.