Behaviors that affect natural resources may involve many actors and actions and take place over long periods of time. This guide presents a framework of nine essential elements or “stepping stones” that natural resource managers have found useful in understanding why people behave as they do toward the environment and in developing an environmental vision with strategies that work. These stepping stones are: (1) clarifying one”s own motives and interests; (2) identifying stakeholders and their interests; (3) initiating a dialogue with stakeholders; (4) identifying behaviors that affect the environment; (5) prioritizing and agreeing on critical behaviors to address; (6) learning more about the factors that affect critical behaviors; (7) developing a vision for a sustainable future; and (8) developing activities to affect the factors that influence behaviors. A number of case studies are presented to illustrate how these stepping stones have been used in real situations in Africa and Madagascar, specifically from Keur Samba Dia borassus palm forest, Senegal; Mbaniou, Senegal; Muzarabani sacred forests, Zimbabwe; Ranomafana National Park, Madagascar; Taita Hills, Kenya; and West Caprivi, Namibia.
